Abstract:

BACKGROUND: It is necessary to understand the brachial plexus stretch mechanical properties for the brachial plexus injuries suture anastomosis technique.

OBJECTIVE: The brachial plexus of laboratory animals was performed tensile experiment to observe the tensile mechanical properties, which can provide the tensile mechanical properties parameters for the clinic.

METHODS: A total of 40 C_6-7 brachial plexus of rats were obtained and randomly divided into the normal control group (n = 20) and analog brachial plexus injury anastomosis group (n = 20). The middle of the specimen was cut off from the broken suture by hand-cut way to the analog brachial plexus injury anastomosis. Tensile test with the speed of 5 mm/min was performed, and the experimental data was treated by using the polynomial and Least-squares method. The tensile maximum load, maximum displacement, maximum strain, maximum stress, and stress-strain curve were observed.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The tensile maximum load of the analog brachial plexus injury anastomosis group was (1.050±0.135) N, maximum displacement was (3.090±0.356) mm, maximum strain was (61.860±7.252)%, and maximum stress was (5.095±0.647) MPa. The tensile maximum load and the maximum stress of the normal control group were greater than those of the analog brachial plexus injury anastomosis group (P < 0.05), but the maximum displacement and maximum strain were smaller than the analog brachial plexus injury anastomosis group (P < 0.05). The tensile stress-strain curve is changed in exponential relationship. The results demonstrated that the two groups of brachial plexus tensile specimens have different mechanical properties.