Evaluation of different histochemical staining in three-dimensional reconstruction of peripheral nerves

Objective To explore the feasibility of different histochemical staining in threedimensional reconstruction of peripheral nerves.Methods The samples were collected from fresh adult common tibial nerve,which were serially horizontally sliced with the thickness of 6 (m.All slices were randomly divided into four groups with different staining such as Karnovsky-Roots staining,acetylcholinesterase staining,acetyltransferase staining or carbonic anhydrase staining.The stain characteristics in various stain phrases were observed under optic-microscope.Results The character of nerve fibers could be distinguished clearly by Karnovsky-Roots,acetylcholinesterase,acetyltransferase and acetyltransferase staining.It took 50 to 52 hours to finish the staining by using KaruovskyRoots staining.Carbonic anhydrase staining was the simplest method.Conclusion Among the four staining methods,Karnovsky-Roots staining is suitable for three-dimensional reconstruction of peripheral nerves.