Premium
Silk fibroin enhances peripheral nerve regeneration by improving vascularization within nerve conduits
Author(s) -
Wang Chunyang,
Jia Yachao,
Yang Weichao,
Zhang Cheng,
Zhang Kuihua,
Chai Yimin
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of biomedical materials research part a
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.849
H-Index - 150
eISSN - 1552-4965
pISSN - 1549-3296
DOI - 10.1002/jbm.a.36390
Subject(s) - fibroin , nerve guidance conduit , regeneration (biology) , angiogenesis , nanofiber , peripheral nerve , umbilical vein , bridge (graph theory) , sciatic nerve , in vivo , anatomy , nerve growth factor , blood vessel , chemistry , in vitro , materials science , biology , medicine , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , receptor , nanotechnology , silk , composite material
Silk fibroin (SF)‐based nerve conduits have been widely used to bridge peripheral nerve defects. Our previous study showed that nerve regeneration in a SF‐blended poly (l‐lactide‐co‐ɛ‐caprolactone) [P(LLA‐CL)] nerve conduit is better than that in a P(LLA‐CL) conduit. However, the involved mechanisms remain unclarified. Because angiogenesis within a nerve conduit plays an important role in nerve regeneration, vascularization of SF/P(LLA‐CL) and P(LLA‐CL) conduits was compared both in vitro and in vivo . In the present study, we observed that SF/P(LLA‐CL) nanofibers significantly promoted fibroblast proliferation, and vascular endothelial growth factor secreted by fibroblasts seeded in SF/P(LLA‐CL) nanofibers was more than seven‐fold higher than that in P(LLA‐CL) nanofibers. Conditioned medium of fibroblasts in the SF/P(LLA‐CL) group stimulated more human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) to form capillary‐like networks and promoted faster HUVEC migration. The two kinds of nerve conduits were used to bridge 10‐mm‐length nerve defects in rats. At 3 weeks of reparation, the blood vessel area in the SF/P(LLA‐CL) group was significantly larger than that in the P(LLA‐CL) group. More regenerated axons and Schwann cells were also observed in the SF/P(LLA‐CL) group, which was consistent with the results of blood vessels. Collectively, our data revealed that the SF/P(LLA‐CL) nerve conduit enhances peripheral nerve regeneration by improving angiogenesis within the conduit. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 106A: 2070–2077, 2018.