Shepherd Center, Atlanta, GA 30309, USA.
Ann Biomed Eng. 2011 Jun;39(6):1815-28. doi: 10.1007/s10439-011-0277-6. Epub 2011 Feb 24.
Peripheral nerve damage is routinely repaired by autogenic nerve grafting, often leading to less than optimal functional recovery at the expense of healthy donor nerves. Alternative repair strategies use tubular scaffolds to guide the regeneration of damaged nerves, but despite the progress made on improved structural materials for the nerve tubes, functional recovery remains incomplete. We developed a biosynthetic nerve implant (BNI) consisting of a hydrogel-based transparent multichannel scaffold with luminar collagen matrix as a 3-D substrate for nerve repair. Using a rat sciatic nerve injury model we showed axonal regeneration through the BNI to be histologically comparable to the autologous nerve repair. At 10 weeks post-injury, nerve defects repaired with collagen-filled, single lumen tubes formed single nerve cables, while animals that received the multi-luminal BNIs showed multiple nerve cables and the formation of a perineurial-like layer within the available microchannels. Total numbers of myelinated and unmyelinated axons in the BNI were increased 3-fold and 30%, respectively, compared to collagen tubes. The recovery of reflexive movement confirmed the functional regeneration of both motor and sensory neurons. This study supports the use of multi-luminal BNIs as a viable alternative to autografts in the repair of nerve gap injuries.
周围神经损伤通常通过自体神经移植来修复，但这往往会牺牲健康供体神经，导致功能恢复不理想。替代修复策略使用管状支架来引导受损神经的再生，但尽管在神经管的改进结构材料方面取得了进展，功能恢复仍然不完整。我们开发了一种生物合成神经植入物（BNI），由基于水凝胶的透明多通道支架和作为神经修复三维基质的发光胶原基质组成。使用大鼠坐骨神经损伤模型，我们发现通过 BNI 的轴突再生在组织学上可与自体神经修复相媲美。在损伤后 10 周，用胶原填充的单腔管修复的神经缺损形成单个神经电缆，而接受多腔 BNI 的动物显示出多个神经电缆和在可用微通道内形成类 péri neurial 层。与胶原管相比，BNI 中的有髓和无髓轴突总数分别增加了 3 倍和 30%。反射运动的恢复证实了运动和感觉神经元的功能再生。这项研究支持使用多腔 BNI 作为自体移植物修复神经间隙损伤的可行替代方案。
