Histological assessment in peripheral nerve tissue engineering.
The histological analysis of peripheral nerve regeneration is one of the most used methods to demonstrate the success of the regeneration through nerve conduits. Nowadays, it is possible to evaluate different parameters of nerve regeneration by using histological, histochemical, immunohistochemical and ultrastructural techniques. The histochemical methods are very sensible and are useful tools to evaluate the extracellular matrix remodeling and the myelin sheath, but they are poorly specific. In contrast, the immunohistochemical methods are highly specific and are frequently used for the identification of the regenerated axons, Schwann cells and proteins associated to nerve regeneration or neural linage. The ultrastructural techniques offer the possibility to perform a high resolution morphological and quantitative analysis of the nerve regeneration. However, the use of a single histological method may not be enough to assess the degree of regeneration, and the combination of different histological techniques could be necessary.
Department of Histology (Tissue Engineering Group), Faculty of Medicine, University of Granada, and Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs, Granada, Spain ; Department of Basic Medical Sciences (Histology and Tissue Engineering Group), Faculty of Medicine, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
Víctor
V
Carriel
Department of Histology (Tissue Engineering Group), Faculty of Medicine, University of Granada, and Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs, Granada, Spain.
Ingrid
I
Garzón
Department of Histology (Tissue Engineering Group), Faculty of Medicine, University of Granada, and Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs, Granada, Spain.
Miguel
M
Alaminos
Department of Basic Medical Sciences (Histology and Tissue Engineering Group), Faculty of Medicine, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
Maria
M
Cornelissen
histology, histochemistry; immunohistochemistry; peripheral nerve regeneration; quantitative histology