The entire sciatic nerve was removed, placed on a microscope slide, and cover slipped using Vectashield mounting medium
(Vector Laboratories, Burlingame, CA, USA). Edges of the cover slip were sealed with nail polish. Mounted nerves were viewed with a laser scanning confocal microscope (Zeiss LSM510). Horizontal optical sections 10 μm thick were obtained through the full extent of the graft. Stacks of images of adjacent microscope fields were stitched together using Adobe Photoshop.