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Page 8 of 13 Chi et al. Plast Aesthet Res 2023;10:56 https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2347-9264.2023.48

Figure 3. Experimental efficacy of electrostimulation and tacrolimus (FK506) in nerve regeneration. (A) GFP+ axon outgrowth was
observed 14 days after repair. Electrostimulation (ES) groups displayed GFP+ axon growth that appeared more organized and
unidirectional, with long axon projections extending through the distal nerve. Yellow arrows indicate the repair site; white scale bar
represents 1 mm; (B) GFP+ axon outgrowth was quantified using GFP+ axon density measured at discrete spatial regions distal to the
repair site. All data represented as mean ± SD, n = 4 per group. * indicates P < 0.05 10 min ES vs. 0 min ES, # indicates P < 0.05 60 min
ES vs. 0 min ES, ^ indicates P < 0.05 10 min ES vs. 60 min ES. The dotted line indicates the average GFP+ density of the proximal nerve.
(Adapted from Roh et al., 2022) [69] ; (C) Rate of regenerating axons after crush injury in mice treated with FK-506. Taking the difference
between the length measurements at each timepoint via in vivo serial transcutaneous imaging, an average rate of axonal regeneration
was calculated for each experimental group. Both FK-506 preload groups exhibited a rate of regeneration that was significantly greater
than all other experimental groups. The rate of regeneration in the control group at ~3 mm/day is consistent with reported rates in the
[79]
literature. (P < 0.005 for comparison between indicated experimental groups) (Adapted from Yan et al., 2011) .

To treat putative traction injury to the spinal accessory nerve and prevent shoulder weakness and scapular
winging, these patients received 20 Hz 1-hour electrostimulation or sham stimulation intra-operatively
while other portions of the surgical procedure were ongoing . This trial was the first to report functional
[74]
improvement with electrostimulation as these patients reported approximately only 25% of the functional
shoulder impairment described by the sham stimulation cohort as measured by the Constant-Murley
Shoulder score at one year following surgery. More recently, a double-blinded randomized controlled trial
on 31 patients with severe cubital tunnel syndrome was published where the ulnar nerve was treated with 20