AGE-RELATED DYNAMICS OF MORPHOMETRIC PARAMETERS OF TIBIAL NERVE IN DOGS
The morphometric study of the tibial nerve was performed in 10 mongrel puppies aged 2, 4 and 10–11 months and of 7 adult dogs aged 1–3 years. It was demonstrated that during the process of growth of the animals the numerical density of nerve fibers (NF) and endoneural microvessels decreased, while the proportion of soft-tissue component and the values of all the dimensional characteristics of myelin NF significantly increased. Both the processes of myelin NF differentiation and the appearance of mature large-caliber NF at the age of 10 months resulted in the increase of system heterogeneity accompanied by an increment of entropy. The myelin NF population in adult dogs was characterized by high values of organization and redundancy, and, therefore, it is more deterministic and stable, with greater reliability of information transmission along the nerve trunks as communication channels.