Neural Degeneration and Regeneration in Human Renal Transplants

Abstract

Neural degeneration and regeneration were studied histologically with hematoxylin–eosin and Bodian stains in 33 human renal transplants. By the fifteenth day after transplantation few intact axons were recognizable, and by the twenty-sixth day, only axonal debris remained. As early as the twenty-eighth day, regenerating axons appeared distal to the graft's arterial anastomosis. Regenerating axons could be traced to the nerves accompanying the interlobular arteries, but the axon population did not reach the number observed in normal nerves of comparable size. Allografts and isografts exhibited comparable patterns of neural regeneration.