Intraluminal Guiding Structure of Nerve Conduits for Peripheral Nerve Regeneration

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tianhao Yu ◽  
Yingxi Xu ◽  
Xingya Jia ◽  
Qiang Ao

Peripheral nerve injury that can lead to disability affects millions of people worldwide annually. As the gold standard treatment of peripheral nerve injury, autologous nerve grafts are the most widely used and effective, but the clinical application of the treatment is greatly limited by many disadvantages. Tissue engineering nerve conduits gradually become promising autologous nerve grafts alternatives to promote the regeneration of injured nerves. This review places emphasis on tissue engineering designs of physical and topographic guiding structure inside nerve conduits in order to promote the migration of Schwann cells and directional regrowth of axons towards target organs. Various strategies of intraluminal guiding cues have been described and analyzed, including the incorporation with the tissue with natural basement membrane, collagen, microfilaments, intraluminal multi-channel and grooves in the inner wall. Recently, much progress has been made in the development of tissue engineering nerve conduits, but poor curative effect and deficiencies such as axon dispersion and malposition healing still remain unsolved, many crucial factors need to be considered in further research before clinical practices.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Songyang Liu ◽  
Yijun Liu ◽  
Liping Zhou ◽  
Ci Li ◽  
Meng Zhang ◽  
...  

Peripheral nerve injury (PNI) remains an unresolved challenge in the medicine area. With the development of biomaterial science and tissue engineering, a variety of nerve conduits were widely applied in...


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shimon Rochkind ◽  
Zvi Nevo

Objective. Guiding Regeneration Gel (GRG) was developed in response to the clinical need of improving treatment for peripheral nerve injuries and helping patients regenerate massive regional losses in peripheral nerves. The efficacy of GRG based on tissue engineering technology for the treatment of complete peripheral nerve injury with significant loss defect was investigated.Background. Many severe peripheral nerve injuries can only be treated through surgical reconstructive procedures. Such procedures are challenging, since functional recovery is slow and can be unsatisfactory. One of the most promising solutions already in clinical practice is synthetic nerve conduits connecting the ends of damaged nerve supporting nerve regeneration. However, this solution still does not enable recovery of massive nerve loss defect.The proposed technologyis a biocompatible and biodegradable gel enhancing axonal growth and nerve regeneration. It is composed of a complex of substances comprising transparent, highly viscous gel resembling the extracellular matrix that is almost impermeable to liquids and gasses, flexible, elastic, malleable, and adaptable to various shapes and formats.Preclinical studyon rat model of peripheral nerve injury showed that GRG enhanced nerve regeneration when placed in nerve conduits, enabling recovery of massive nerve loss, previously unbridgeable, and enabled nerve regeneration at least as good as with autologous nerve graft “gold standard” treatment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shixian Dong ◽  
Sijia Feng ◽  
Yuzhou Chen ◽  
Mo Chen ◽  
Yimeng Yang ◽  
...  

Peripheral nerve injury gives rise to devastating conditions including neural dysfunction, unbearable pain and even paralysis. The therapeutic effect of current treatment for peripheral nerve injury is unsatisfactory, resulting in slow nerve regeneration and incomplete recovery of neural function. In this study, nerve suture combined with ADSCs injection was adopted in rat model of sciatic nerve injury. Under real-time visualization of the injected cells with the guidance of NIR-II fluorescence imaging in vivo, a spatio-temporal map displaying cell migration from the proximal injection site (0 day post-injection) of the nerve to the sutured site (7 days post-injection), and then to the distal section (14 days post-injection) was demonstrated. Furthermore, the results of electromyography and mechanical pain threshold indicated nerve regeneration and functional recovery after the combined therapy. Therefore, in the current study, the observed ADSCs migration in vivo, electrophysiological examination results and pathological changes all provided robust evidence for the efficacy of the applied treatment. Our approach of nerve suture combined with ADSCs injection in treating peripheral nerve injury under real-time NIR-II imaging monitoring in vivo added novel insights into the treatment for peripheral nerve injury, thus further enhancing in-depth understanding of peripheral nerve regeneration and the mechanism behind.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 530-536
Author(s):  
Dong-Xu Huang ◽  
Jiang-Nan Li ◽  
Ge-Yi Zhang ◽  
Wen-Gang Wang ◽  
Lei Xia ◽  
...  

Peripheral nerves have complex and precise structures that differ from other types of tissues and intrinsic regeneration abilities after injury. Spontaneous recovery is possible for neuropraxia and axonotmesis, while surgical treatment is required for neurotmesis. It remains a challenge to repair nerve gaps, a series of severe neurotmesis. It seems that 3 cm is the upper limit distance for primate peripheral nerves to regenerate spontaneously. Nerve autografts are the gold standard treatment for bridging nerve gaps. In the present review, current biomaterials for repairing gaps after peripheral nerve injury are briefly summarized. Moreover, the microstructure of the peripheral nerve, classifications of peripheral nerve injury, and the Wallerian degeneration are reviewed in the biological view and clinical practice. The failure of nerve regeneration in nerve conduits bridging longer than 3 cm gaps may be contributing to the insufficient vascularization of nerve conduit materials. Future researchers could focus on advanced biomaterials that promoting the angiogenesis of nerve conduits.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin C. Burrell ◽  
Kevin D. Browne ◽  
John L. Dutton ◽  
Suradip Das ◽  
Daniel P. Brown ◽  
...  

AbstractApproximately 20 million Americans currently experience residual deficits from traumatic peripheral nerve injury. Despite recent advancements in surgical technique, peripheral nerve repair typically results in poor functional outcomes due to prolonged periods of denervation resulting from long regenerative distances coupled with relatively slow rates of axonal regeneration. Development of novel surgical solutions requires valid preclinical models that adequately replicate the key challenges of clinical peripheral nerve injury. Our team has developed a porcine model using Yucatan minipigs that provides an opportunity to investigate peripheral nerve regeneration using different nerves tailored for a specific mechanism of interest, such as (1) nerve modality: motor, sensory, and mixed-modality; (2) injury length: short versus long gap; and (3) total regenerative distance: proximal versus distal injury. Here, we describe a comprehensive porcine model of two challenging clinically relevant procedures for repair of long segmental lesions (≥ 5 cm) – the deep peroneal nerve repaired using a sural nerve autograft and the common peroneal nerve repaired using a saphenous nerve autograft – each featuring ultra-long total regenerative distances (up to 20 cm and 27 cm, respectively) to reach distal targets. This paper includes a detailed characterization of the relevant anatomy, surgical approach/technique, functional/electrophysiological outcomes, and nerve morphometry for baseline and autograft repaired nerves. These porcine models of major peripheral nerve injury are suitable as preclinical, translatable models for evaluating the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of next-generation artificial nerve grafts prior to clinical deployment.


2022 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenica Acheta ◽  
Shannon B. Z. Stephens ◽  
Sophie Belin ◽  
Yannick Poitelon

Peripheral nerve injuries are common conditions that can arise from trauma (e.g., compression, severance) and can lead to neuropathic pain as well as motor and sensory deficits. Although much knowledge exists on the mechanisms of injury and nerve regeneration, treatments that ensure functional recovery following peripheral nerve injury are limited. Schwann cells, the supporting glial cells in peripheral nerves, orchestrate the response to nerve injury, by converting to a “repair” phenotype. However, nerve regeneration is often suboptimal in humans as the repair Schwann cells do not sustain their repair phenotype long enough to support the prolonged regeneration times required for successful nerve regrowth. Thus, numerous strategies are currently focused on promoting and extending the Schwann cells repair phenotype. Low-intensity ultrasound (LIU) is a non-destructive therapeutic approach which has been shown to facilitate peripheral nerve regeneration following nerve injury in rodents. Still, clinical trials in humans are scarce and limited to small population sizes. The benefit of LIU on nerve regeneration could possibly be mediated through the repair Schwann cells. In this review, we discuss the known and possible molecular mechanisms activated in response to LIU in repair Schwann cells to draw support and attention to LIU as a compelling regenerative treatment for peripheral nerve injury.


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Liu ◽  
Peizhen Lv ◽  
Yongjia Zhu ◽  
Huayu Wu ◽  
Kun Zhang ◽  
...  

Abstract Salidriside (SDS), a phenylpropanoid glycoside derived from Rhodiola rosea L, has been shown to be neuroprotective in many studies, which may be promising in nerve recovery. In this study, the neuroprotective effects of SDS on engineered nerve constructed by Schwann cells (SCs) and Poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) were studied in vitro. We further investigated the effect of combinational therapy of SDS and PLGA/SCs based tissue engineering on peripheral nerve regeneration based on the rat model of nerve injury by sciatic transection. The results showed that SDS dramatically enhanced the proliferation and function of SCs. The underlying mechanism may be that SDS affects SCs growth through the modulation of neurotrophic factors (BDNF, GDNF and CNTF). 12 weeks after implantation with a 12 mm gap of sciatic nerve injury, SDS-PLGA/SCs achieved satisfying outcomes of nerve regeneration, as evidenced by morphological and functional improvements upon therapy by SDS, PLGA/SCs or direct suture group assessed by sciatic function index, nerve conduction assay, HE staining and immunohistochemical analysis. Our results demonstrated the significant role of introducing SDS into neural tissue engineering to promote nerve regeneration.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aikeremujiang Muheremu ◽  
Qiang Ao

With significant advances in the research and application of nerve conduits, they have been used to repair peripheral nerve injury for several decades. Nerve conduits range from biological tubes to synthetic tubes, and from nondegradable tubes to biodegradable tubes. Researchers have explored hollow tubes, tubes filled with scaffolds containing neurotrophic factors, and those seeded with Schwann cells or stem cells. The therapeutic effect of nerve conduits is improving with increasing choice of conduit material, new construction of conduits, and the inclusion of neurotrophic factors and support cells in the conduits. Improvements in functional outcomes are expected when these are optimized for use in clinical practice.


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