VCOM Research Day Program Book 2023

Medical Student Research Biomedical

28 Median Nerve Macro Analysis and its Association with Gender

Alida D’Souza; Bridget Mellon; Haejung Shin; Jonathan Millard; Kelly Roballo Corresponding author: adsouza@vcom.edu

Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine-Virginia Campus

into three parts (distal, middle, and proximal), and each of those were again sectioned three times. The resulting 9 pieces of tissue were cross-sectioned and visualized under light microscopy. Images were taken using an OptixCam Summit K2 camera. Using ImageJ software, the nerve sections were analyzed for nerve diameter, fascicle count and non-nerve tissue. Results: Our preliminary data shows that the median nerve presents a plexiform morphology, with differences in non-nerve tissue and fascicle organization distribution between donors. We are still working on quantitative data, but from our previous experience with femoral and obturator nerves, the

median nerve will have differences in the fascicle number and percentage of non-nerve tissue between donors. Conclusion: The better comprehension of nerve morphology will lead to the improvement of the technologies related to nerve repair.

Introduction: Median nerve injuries (MNI) may result in lifelong disability or pain due to lack of treatment options. Peripheral nerves often receive input from multiple spinal cord levels. The specific spinal cord segments can vary individually, as well as the degree of input from the segments to the peripheral nerve. This research attempts to categorize median nerve morphology based on variables such as sex, age, and body type to illustrate that peripheral allografts from donors are an effective means to bridge and direct nerve regeneration. Methods: Median nerves were isolated from human donors postmortem. Each nerve was sectioned

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