The histomorphological and stereological assessment of rat dorsal root ganglion tissues after various types of sciatic nerve injury

Peripheral nerve injuries lead to signifcant changes in the dorsal root ganglia, where the cell bodies of the damaged axons are located. The sensory neurons and the surrounding satellite cells rearrange the composition of the intracellular organelles to enhance their plasticity for adaptation to changing conditions and response to injury. Meanwhile, satellite cells acquire phagocytic properties and work with macrophages to eliminate degenerated neurons. These structural and functional changes are not identical in all injury types. Understanding the cellular response, which varies according to the type of injury involved, is essential in determining the optimal method of treatment. In this research, we investigated the numerical and morphological changes in primary sensory neurons and satellite cells in the dorsal root ganglion 30 days following chronic compression, crush, and transection injuries using stereology, high-resolution light microscopy, immunohistochemistry, and behavioral analysis techniques. Electron microscopic methods were employed to evaluate fne structural alterations in cells. Stereological evaluations revealed no statistically signifcant diference in terms of mean sensory neuron numbers (p>0.05), although a signifcant decrease was observed in sensory neuron volumes in the transection and crush injury groups (p<0.05). Active caspase-3 immunopositivity increased in the injury groups compared to the sham group (p