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Article Type

Original Study

Abstract

Prolonged bed rest and immobili­zation of joints for long periods of time are frequently prescribed for in­tensive care and orthopedic patients. Abundant scientific evidences in the past 50 years have demonstrated that long-term immobilization lead to multi­ple pathological changes in most or­gans and systems of the body, with particular in the nervous and muscu-losketetal systems. Moreover, critical illness neuropathy with defect in sen­sory perception is recognized more frequently in intensive care patients due to immobilization and bed rest for long time. The present investigation was, therefore, designed to study the ultrastructural changes in the primary sensory neurons in the dorsal root ganglia of the albino rat after a long period of immobilization of both the knee and ankle joints by using above knee plaster cast. These changes may shed some light on the possible mechanism underlying the immobili­zation neuropathy and the defect in sensory perception. Ten adult male albino rats were used in this investigation. The left knee and ankle joints were immobi­lized, in the resting position, by the application of an above knee plaster cast for 12 weeks. The contralateral right side was used as control. After 12 weeks, the plastar cast was re­moved and the rats were sacrificed by intracardiac perfusion with a mix­ture of 2% paraformaldehyde

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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