MOESM2 of Clinical and biometrical 12-month follow-up in patients after reconstruction of the sural nerve biopsy defect by the collagen-based nerve guide Neuromaix

Additional file 2. Examples of toluidine blue stained SN biopsies of the current patient population. Histological examination of the nerve biopsies demonstrated that every patient exhibited regeneration clusters, small groups of densely clustered fibers with thin myelination (black arrows in A–D and encircled group of fibers in the magnification, white arrows indicate small diameter sensory fibers, scale bar 20 µm). This effect that is frequently observed as a compensatory mechanism in neuropathy, points out the intrinsic ability of the axons to sprout and potentially regenerate (Semi-thin sections, toluidine blue; scale bar = 20 µm examples of patients 002, 008, 009, and 005 respectively)