title: Sciatic nerve repair with tissue engineered nerve: Olfactory ensheathing cells seeded poly(lactic-co-glygolic acid) conduit in an animal model.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Synthetic nerve conduits have been sought for repair of nerve defects as the autologous nerve grafts causes donor site morbidity and possess other drawbacks. Many strategies have been investigated to improve nerve regeneration through synthetic nerve guided conduits. Olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) that share both Schwann cell and astrocytic characteristics have been shown to promote axonal regeneration after transplantation. The present study was driven by the hypothesis that tissue-engineered poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) seeded with OECs would improve peripheral nerve regeneration in a long sciatic nerve defect.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sciatic nerve gap of 15 mm was created in six adult female Sprague-Dawley rats and implanted with PLGA seeded with OECs. The nerve regeneration was assessed electrophysiologically at 2, 4 and 6 weeks following implantation. Histopathological examination, scanning electron microscopic (SEM) examination and immunohistochemical analysis were performed at the end of the study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nerve conduction studies revealed a significant improvement of nerve conduction velocities whereby the mean nerve conduction velocity increases from 4.2 ΁ 0.4 m/s at week 2 to 27.3 ΁ 5.7 m/s at week 6 post-implantation (P < 0.0001). Histological analysis revealed presence of spindle-shaped cells. Immunohistochemical analysis further demonstrated the expression of S100 protein in both cell nucleus and the cytoplasm in these cells, hence confirming their Schwann-cell-like property. Under SEM, these cells were found to be actively secreting extracellular matrix.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Tissue-engineered PLGA conduit seeded with OECs provided a permissive environment to facilitate nerve regeneration in a small animal model.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedic, Hospital Queen Elizabeth, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: C W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Tissue Engineering Centre, Medical Faculty, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedic and Traumatology, Medical Faculty, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ohnmar
authors.affiliation: Tissue Engineering Centre, Medical Faculty, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lokanathan
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Science Technology, Universiti Kuala Lumpur, Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nur-Hidayah
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia.
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Roohi
authors.affiliation: Tissue Engineering Centre, Medical Faculty, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ; Department of Physiology, Medical Faculty, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Bhi
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ruszymah
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedic and Traumatology, Medical Faculty, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Nor-Hazla
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedic and Traumatology, Medical Faculty, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shalimar
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedic and Traumatology, Medical Faculty, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Naicker
keywords: Olfactory ensheathing cells; poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid); sciatic nerve defect; tissue engineering