title: Biomechanical properties of peripheral nerve after acellular treatment.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Peripheral nerve injury causes a high rate of disability and a huge economic burden, and is currently one of the serious health problems in the world. The use of nerve grafts plays a vital role in repairing nerve defects. Acellular nerve grafts have been widely used in many experimental models as a peripheral nerve substitute. The purpose of this study was to test the biomechanical properties of acellular nerve grafts.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-four fresh sciatic nerves were obtained from 17 adult male Wistar rats (age of 3 months) and randomly assigned to 3 groups: normal control group, nerve segments underwent no treatment and were put in phosphate buffered saline (pH 7.4) and stored at 4°C until further use; physical method group, nerve segments were frozen at -196°C and then thawed at 37°C; and chemical method group, nerve segments were chemically extracted with the detergents Triton X-200, sulfobetaine-10 (SB-10) and sulfobetaine-16 (SB-16). After the acellularization process was completed, the structural changes of in the sciatic nerves in each group were observed by hematoxylin-eosin staining and field emission scanning electron microscopy, then biomechanical properties were tested using a mechanical apparatus (Endura TEC ELF 3200, Bose, Boston, USA).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Hematoxylin-eosin staining and field emission scanning electron microscopy demonstrated that the effects of acellularization, demyelination, and integrity of nerve fiber tube of the chemical method were better than that of the physical method. Biomechanical testing showed that peripheral nerve grafts treated with the chemical method resulted in some decreased biomechanical properties (ultimate load, ultimate stress, ultimate strain, and mechanical work to fracture) compared with normal control nerves, but the differences were not statistically significant (P > 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Nerve treated with the chemical method may be more appropriate for use in implantation than nerve treated with the physical method.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, General Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300052, China.
authors.forename: Xin-Long
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Xiao-Lei
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Zhao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Xiu-Lan
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jian-Xiong
authors.initials: JX
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Zhen-Zhen
authors.initials: ZZ
authors.lastname: Yuan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D008297:Male; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D059348:Peripheral Nerve Injuries / Q000628:therapy; D010525:Peripheral Nerves / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012584:Sciatic Nerve / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D023822:Tissue Engineering