Bob was known all over the neighborhood for his great building skills. On this a
ID: 91678 • Letter: B
Question
Bob was known all over the neighborhood for his great building skills. On this afternoon Bob was building a shed for all his tools. He was cutting some wood when he became distracted and cut his finger with the circular saw. The cut was extremely deep so he went to the ER. The doctor told him he would need to have surgery to repair the finger since some nerves were cut. Using your knowledge of neuron structure do you think it's possible that some of the neurons in Bob's finger will regenerate? Explain
Explanation / Answer
Bob has cut his finger. So, the nerve which was injured was a peripheral nerve. When a peripheral nerve is injured, the distal portion of the axon which gets injured undergoes Wallerian degeneration. This process results in fragmentation and disintegration of the axon. Debris that are formed as a result of Wallerian degeneration is removed by glial cells. After the removal of debris, the proximal axons regenerate and re-innervate their targets, allowing slow recovery of functions. Therefore, in case of Bob's injury, some of his injured neurons in his cut finger will regenerate after the surgical procedure.