Fig. 1

a Model of chronic denervation. The tibial nerve was transected and underwent chronic denervation. After 120 days, the common peroneal nerve was cut and the proximal segment of the peroneal nerve was ligated to chronically denervated tibial nerve. Schwann cells were transplanted at the sites shown by the arrows (tib tibial nerve, per common peroneal nerve). b Animals with Schwann cells transplanted at the proximal site show higher CMAP amplitudes compared to distal transplanted and control animals. c Semi-thin sections show myelinated axons in non-denervated (sham), denervated, and proximal Schwann cell transplant (1), denervated and distal Schwann cell transplant (2), and denervated and no Schwann cell transplant (3) nerves. d Graph summarizes the number of myelinated axons. n = 5–8 rats each group, **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05 (two-way ANOVA and Student’s t test) (bar = 20 μm)