Open AccessA novel tissue engineered nerve graft constructed with autologous vein and nerve microtissue repairs a long-segment sciatic nerve defect
Author(s) -
Jing Wang,
Yaqiong Zhu,
Yu Wang,
Hong-guang Xu,
Wei Xu,
Yuexiang Wang,
Xiaoqing Cheng,
Qi Qi,
Yongqiang Hu,
Chang Lu,
Yun Zhao,
Wen Jiang,
Chen Liu,
Xiao Liang,
Wei Lu,
Chunrong Zhu,
Aiyuan Wang
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
neural regeneration research/neural regeneration research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.93
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1876-7958
pISSN - 1673-5374
DOI - 10.4103/1673-5374.286977
Subject(s) - sciatic nerve , epineurial repair , medicine , gastrocnemius muscle , nerve guidance conduit , regeneration (biology) , transplantation , anatomy , tissue engineering , surgery , biomedical engineering , skeletal muscle , biology , microbiology and biotechnology
Veins are easy to obtain, have low immunogenicity, and induce a relatively weak inflammatory response. Therefore, veins have the potential to be used as conduits for nerve regeneration. However, because of the presence of venous valves and the great elasticity of the venous wall, the vein is not conducive to nerve regeneration. In this study, a novel tissue engineered nerve graft was constructed by combining normal dissected nerve microtissue with an autologous vein graft for repairing 10-mm peripheral nerve defects in rats. Compared with rats given the vein graft alone, rats given the tissue engineered nerve graft had an improved sciatic static index, and a higher amplitude and shorter latency of compound muscle action potentials. Furthermore, rats implanted with the microtissue graft had a higher density and thickness of myelinated nerve fibers and reduced gastrocnemius muscle atrophy compared with rats implanted with the vein alone. However, the tissue engineered nerve graft had a lower ability to repair the defect than autogenous nerve transplantation. In summary, although the tissue engineered nerve graft constructed with autologous vein and nerve microtissue is not as effective as autologous nerve transplantation for repairing long-segment sciatic nerve defects, it may nonetheless have therapeutic potential for the clinical repair of long sciatic nerve defects. This study was approved by the Experimental Animal Ethics Committee of Chinese PLA General Hospital (approval No. 2016-x9-07) on September 7, 2016.