Two matched groups of first-year preclinical medical students studied the gross anatomy of the lower limb by different methods. One group dissected in the traditional manner (as in the existing curriculum) while the other worked according to an experimental programme which excluded dissection by students. Preparatory study guides were supplied to the experimental group and each of their practical classes on soft tissues began with a priming session at which the structures to be encountered were introduced. The instructor then demonstrated these structures to the group on a prosected wet specimen and bones. Thereafter, the students were allowed to handle and discuss the specimens without staff supervision. At the end of the programme, both groups submitted to a 300-item two-choice paper and a practical test. A debriefing questionnaire was also completed by the experimental group. In both tests, the experimental group performed better than the traditional group and the difference was statistically significant (P less than 0.05) in the theory paper. Further, the experimental programme was completed in about 74% of the time taken by the traditional programme. All the participants commented positively on the experimental programme and expressed the opinion that it had helped them understand the lower limb better than dissection had done for the upper limb. These results suggest that working from prosections is a very effective way of learning human gross anatomy. Such a programme is worthy of consideration by departments having to contend with unfavourable student:cadaver ratios and curtailed teaching time.

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Denervation stimulates quiescent satellite cells in skeletal muscle to reenter the cell cycle. In the androgen-sensitive rat levator ani muscle (LA), this mitotic response to loss of neural input fails to occur in castrated animals. To elucidate the role of androgens in denervation-induced satellite cell proliferation, the denervated LA of castrated rats (Group A) was compared with that of animals infixed with testosterone implants after castration (Group B). Mean myofiber cross-sectional areas (Group A: 362.95 m 2 Ϯ 27.74; Group B: 403.13 m 2 Ϯ 53.87) and linear nuclear densities (Group A: 74.07 mm Ϫ1 Ϯ 17.58; Group B: 104.13 mm Ϫ1 Ϯ 4.06) were similar (P Ͼ 0.05) in both groups. The androgen-deprived myofibers of Group A, however, had a significantly lower nuclear content (271.0 Ϯ 74.91 vs. 1,285.80 Ϯ 81.74 in Group B; P Ͻ 0.05) on account of their considerably shorter mean length (3.44 mm Ϯ 0.29 vs. 12.31 mm Ϯ 0.92 in Group B; P Ͻ 0.05). The proportional representation of satellite cells in hormone-replaced, denervated muscle was more than twice that in the untreated group (Group B: 5.15 Ϯ 0.83% vs. Group A: 2.28 Ϯ 0.23%; P Ͻ 0.05). In absolute terms, the satellite cell number in Group B was approximately an order of magnitude greater than in Group A (408.4 ϫ 10 3 vs. 38.08 ϫ 10 3 ). The results confirm the absence of testosterone as the factor responsible for the inability of satellite cells in the LA of castrated rats to respond mitotically to the withdrawal of neural input after denervation.