This study was undertaken to determine whether the use of sulfanilamide, sulfathiazole, sulfapyridine or sulfadiazine has any effect on an injured peripheral nerve and its adnexa. It has become a frequent practice to use one or more of these drugs locally in routine operative procedures and in treatment of war injuries. Although their use in wounds of these types has been considered as harmless in general, despite the occurrence of a serous exudate (Key and Frankel1), the specific effect on nerve regeneration has not previously been evaluated.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
The sciatic nerve of the cat was selected for the present experiments. One sciatic nerve of each animal was treated with 0.25 or 0.5 Gm. of one of the powdered sulfonamide compounds previously mentioned. The other nerve was left as a control. All operations were carried on under aseptic conditions.Appropriate experiments were designed to determine the local effects