title: Preclinical evaluations of acellular biological conduits for peripheral nerve regeneration.
abstract: Various types of natural biological conduits have been investigated as alternatives to the current surgical standard approach for peripheral nerve injuries. Autologous nerve graft, the current gold standard for peripheral nerve damage, is limited by clinical challenges such as donor-site morbidity and limited availability. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of using acellular xenographic conduits (nerve, artery, and dermis) for the repair of a 1.2 cm critical size defect of peripheral nerve in a rodent model. Four months post surgery, the animal group receiving acellular artery as a nerve conduit showed excellent physiological outcome in terms of the prevention of muscle atrophy and foot ulcer. Histological assessment of the bridged site revealed excellent axon regeneration, as opposed to the nonrepaired control group or the group receiving dermal conduit. Finally, the study evaluated the potential improvement via the addition of undifferentiated mesenchymal stem cells into the artery conduit during the bridging procedure. The mesenchymal stem cell-dosed artery conduit group resulted in significantly higher concentration of regenerated axons over artery conduit alone, and exhibited accelerated muscle atrophy rescue. Our results demonstrated that xenographic artery conduits promoted excellent axonal regeneration with highly promising clinical relevance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Research & Development, LifeCell Corporation, Bridgewater, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: I-Chien
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.forename: Shijie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.forename: Cunqi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Paarun
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.forename: Wendell
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
keywords: Peripheral nerve regeneration; decellularized tissue; mesenchymal stem cells; nerve guide; regenerative medicine