SEXUAL DEPENDENCY OF RAT SCIATIC NERVE FIBER CONDUCTION VELOCITY DISTRIBUTIONS

• Published in: International journal of neuroscience Vol. 117; no. 11; pp. 1537 - 1549
• Main Authors: AYAZ, MURAT, KIZILTAN, ERHAN, TUNCER, SECKIN, DALKILIC, NIZAMETTIN, DEMIREL, ILHAMI, Bariskaner, Hulagu, Pehlivan, Ferit
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Informa UK Ltd 01-11-2007; Taylor & Francis
• Subjects: Action Potentials; Animals; compound action potential; conduction velocity distribution; Female; Functional Laterality; gender; In Vitro Techniques; Male; Nerve Fibers - physiology; Neural Conduction - physiology; rat; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; sciatic nerve; Sciatic Nerve - physiology; Sex Factors; Time Factors
• ISSN: 0020-7454; 1563-5279; 1543-5245
• DOI: 10.1080/00207450701239244

Gender differences, either with the structural or through with hormones, dictate how the corresponding organ or organ system responses to physiological signals. Current study aims to investigate gender dependent differences in conduction related parameters of rat sciatic nerve. Compound action potentials (CAP) were recorded via suction electrode whereas the conduction velocity distributions (CVD) were performed using the method known as collision technique in the literature. Studied CAP parameters, namely conduction velocities (CV), area of the CAPs and time required to reach the maximum depolarization (TP) have been found significantly different for female and male rats. Detailed analyses have shown that sex dependent differences were more remarkable in the right leg responses of female and male rats. Additionally, CVDs indicate that the number of fibers having CVs between 5-30 m/s is much more in male right sciatic nerve trunk when compared to age matched female rats. The present study, for the first time clearly shows that shift in the contribution of nerve fibers to lower CVs is the main causal of the sex dependent differences seen in rat sciatic nerve fibers.