title: The delayed repair of sciatic nerve defects with tissue-engineered nerve grafts in rats.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of using tissue-engineered nerve grafts for delayed repair of peripheral nerve defects. A 1-month delayed, 10-mm long sciatic nerve defect was created for rats, which were divided into three grafted groups and a non-grafted group. For bridging the nerve defects, the rats in three grafted groups were subjected to surgical repair with tissue-engineered nerve grafts made of a chitosan/polyglycolic acid (PGA) conduit filled with neural stem cells (NSCs), chitosan/PGA conduits, and autologous nerve grafts, respectively. At 3 months after nerve grafting, the data from electrophysiology, retrograde tracing and histological investigation revealed that the better outcomes in sciatic nerve regeneration and target muscle re-innervation were achieved in three grafted groups as compared to those in non-grafted group without major differences between three grafted groups. Our results suggest that grafting of chitosan/PGA conduits might be a promising technique for repairing peripheral nerve injuries after a 1-month delay, while introduction of NSCs seem to show no significant additional benefits to regenerative outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Embryology, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Neuroregeneration, Nantong University, 19 Qixiu Road, Nantong, Jiangsu, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.forename: Xue
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Weiwei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Xiaosong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.forename: Xiaodong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D048271:Chitosan / Q000494:pharmacology; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology / Q000637:transplantation*; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus; D048091:Guided Tissue Regeneration; D009416:Nerve Regeneration / Q000187:drug effects; D009417:Nerve Tissue / Q000502:physiology; D011100:Polyglycolic Acid / Q000494:pharmacology; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012584:Sciatic Nerve / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology* / Q000601:surgery; D023822:Tissue Engineering; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D011100:Polyglycolic Acid; D048271:Chitosan