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The endoneurial blood vessels of rodents are normally impermeable to proteins but they become permeable when the axons in the nerve have been severed. In this investigation, the increased permeability is examined in relation to the occurrence or absence of axonal regeneration.

The sciatic and hypoglossal nerves of rats were either ligated and transected so that axons would not regenerate, or crushed and then allowed to regenerate. Changes in vascular permeability to fluorescently labelled albumin were examined in the endoneurium distal to the sites of both types of injury at postoperative intervals of 1–21 days. When axonal regeneration was prevented, the endoneurial vessels remained impermeable to the protein tracer until the 6th day. They then became permeable throughout the distal stump and remained so for the remainder of the experimental period. When axons regenerated, there …