Benefits of Ilizarov automated bone distraction for nerves and articular cartilage in experimental leg lengthening

Table 5 Average morphometric parameters of tibial myelinated nerve fibers (mean ± SE)

Parameters/group and t-points	Share of degenerated nerve fibers (%)	Nerve fibers diameters (mKm)	Axonal diameters (mKm)	Myelin sheath thickness (mKm)
Intact control	1.6 ± 0.2	6.75 ± 0.01	4.63 ± 0.13	1.06 ± 0.02
M-group - manual distraction (1 mm/d in 4 steps)
28 d of distraction	5.0 ± 0.7a	6.91 ± 0.17	4.57 ± 0.19	1.16a ± 0.01
30 d of fixation	4.0 ± 0.9a	6.77 ± 0.47	4.44 ± 0.28a	1.17 ± 0.10
30 d without apparatus	4.4 ± 2.4	6.61 ± 3.19	4.37 ± 2.10a	1.12 ± 0.64
A-group - automatic distraction (1 mm/d in 60 steps)
28 d of distraction	2.4 ± 0.7b	6.29 ± 0.13	4.63 ± 0.10	0.83 ± 0.02a
30 d of fixation	0.5 ± 0.2ac	6.88 ± 0.11	4.99 ± 0.10a	0.95 ± 0.12
30 d without apparatus	0.9 ± 0.1ac	7.26 ± 0.13a	5.05 ± 0.09a	1.11 ± 0.05

^aP < 0.05 vs intact;

^cP < 0.05 vs group M.