Abstract
Following recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) injury, recovery results in poor functional restitution of the paralyzed vocal fold. Netrin-1 has been found to be upregulated in the rat posterior cricoarytenoid muscle (PCA) during nerve regeneration. We evaluated the effect of ectopic Netrin-1 in the PCA during RLN reinnervation. The right RLN was transected and Netrin-1 was injected into the PCA (2.5, 5, 10, 15, 20μg/ml). At 7 days post injury fluorescent retrograde tracer was injected into the PCA and Thyroarytenoid (TA) muscles. At 9 days tissues were harvested. Immunostaining showed reinnervation patterns in the laryngeal muscles and labelled motoneurons in the nucleus ambiguus. Lower concentrations of Netrin-1 (2.5 and 5μg/ml) showed no significant changes in laryngeal muscles reinnervation. Higher concentrations of Netrin-1 significantly reduced motor end plate innervation. The most effective dose was 10μg/ml showing reduced number of innervated motor endplates in the PCA. The somatotopic organization of the nucleus ambiguus was altered in all concentrations of Netrin-1 injection. These findings indicate that injection of Netrin-1 into the PCA changes the reinnervation pattern of the RLN.