摘要Background:Although widely used,the rat model remains poorly transferable to hu-mans for peripheral nerve regeneration studies.The rabbit is a much better choice from an anatomical perspective.However,it remains little used due to the lack of available literature.The aim of this article is to demonstrate the feasibility and effec-tiveness of an electrophysiological protocol combined with a motor function assess-ment to analyze nerve repair.Methods:Ten white New Zealand rabbits underwent a 4 cm transection of the fibular nerve.Autograft regeneration over 36 weeks was compared to non-repaired controls.The compound muscle action potential(CMAP)was recorded in the tibialis anterior and the extensor digitorum brevis.An electromyogram(EMG)was obtained after nee-dle insertion and resting muscle activity recording.The electrophysiological results were compared to the toe spread index(TSI),which assesses the motor functional recovery promoted by fibular nerve regeneration.Results:The autograft group regeneration starts between weeks 18 and 21 and nor-mal EMG was observed around the 30th week.These electrophysiological results were compared to the well-defined toe spread reflex.This motor test showed a sig-nificant functional return of 59％at 36 weeks(p＜0.05).Rabbits regain nearly 80％of their muscle mass.Conclusion:Nerve conduction allows detection of nerve regeneration of the mus-cle while electromyography indicates when muscle activity returns to normal.These studies are reliable and non-invasive techniques to evaluate fibular nerve regenera-tion in the rabbit's hindlimb.Nonetheless,it is necessary to have qualified personnel,since inter-manipulator variations have been observed.