Sensory Nerve Ending Structures After 5 Weeks of Vibration Exposure

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bain J ; Riley D ; Wu C ; Zimmerman J
• Description:
  Hand arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) is an occupational disease that causes debilitating numbness and vasospasm of the fingers. The mode of injury remains poorly understood which also inhibits preventative measures. Previous work has shown that one bout of 12 min vibration with a riveting hammer causes decreased sensation in the rat tail. However the effects on mechanosensory receptors of the skin have not been characterized. We aimed to study the effects of vibration on rat tail sensory nerve endings on the skin by examining changes after 5 weeks of vibration exposure. 8-wk-old Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into a tail-vibration group (n=8) and a sham-vibrated control group (n=8). The vibration group received 12 min of riveting hammer vibration exposure per day, 5 days per week for a total of 5 weeks. The Control group received the same treatment in terms of restraint and noise exposure, however they were not subjected to tail vibrations. When treatments were completed, the rats were euthanized and perfusion fixed with buffered formaldehyde. Mid-tail segments were removed, decalcified and frozen for cryostat sections. Lanceolate mechanosensory nerve endings surrounding hairs in the skin were immunostained by PGP9.5 and examined by fluorescence microscopy. Interestingly, results showed that lanceolate nerve ending complexes appeared largely unchanged in number and organization between the vibrated and control non-vibrated groups. These findings may suggest that altered sensory perception is not a result of damage to sensory nerve endings at the skin level, but rather it may be secondary to changes in signal transduction in the peripheral or central nervous system. Alternatively, since PGP9.5 also stains Schwann cells, the observed complexes may represent preserved Schwann cell processes with or without intact nerve endings. Future experiments will be conducted to differentiate between Schwann cell processes and nerve endings of the lanceolate complex. This will determine whether vibration causes injury at the cutaneous mechanoreceptor level which may help in targeting preventative or treatment therapies for HAVS. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Animals Formaldehyde Hypersensitivity Laboratories Musculoskeletal System Nervous System Occupational Health Safety Skin Vibration
• Keywords:
  Diseases Hand-arm Vibration Syndrome Hand Injuries Hand Tools HAVS Injuries Laboratory Animals Nerve Function Nerves Sensitization Skin Exposure Vibration Effects Vibration Exposure

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• Publisher:
  American Society for Peripheral Nerve (ASPN)
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 5 ; Wisconsin
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20052522
• Citation:
  2017 American Society for Peripheral Nerve (ASPN), January 13-15, 2017, Waikoloa, Hawaii. Beverly, MA, American Society for Peripheral Nerve (ASPN), 2017 Jan; :1
• CAS Registry Number:
  Formaldehyde (CAS RN 50-00-0)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2017
• NORA Priority Area:
  Construction
• Performing Organization:
  Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  19990901
• Source Full Name:
  2017 American Society for Peripheral Nerve (ASPN), January 13-15, 2017, Waikoloa, Hawaii
• End Date:
  20160831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7fdbdf445b4a809af9f7e52940b06a4c0f1bc0006c6e1c99a54c55ba458d95f5132ad27585c6cb3a64c7bd92efcd92a8143979c511143669db9683de31292022
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/212035/cdc_212035_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 201.08 KB ]