title: Extracorporeal shockwave treatment: A novel tool to improve Schwann cell isolation and culture.
abstract: As new approaches for peripheral nerve regeneration are sought, there is an increasing demand for native Schwann cells for in vitro testing and/or reimplantation. Extracorporeal shockwave treatment (ESWT) is an emergent technology in the field of regenerative medicine that has also recently been shown to improve peripheral nerve regeneration.
  
  
  
  In this study, we elucidate the effects of ESWT on Schwann cell isolation and culture. Rat sciatic nerves were dissected and treated with ESWT, and Schwann cells were isolated and cultured for 15 passages.
  
  
  
  Single treatment of the whole nerve ex vivo led to significantly increased extracellular adenosinetriphosphate as an immediate consequence, and subsequently a number of effects on the culture were observed, starting with a significantly increased Schwann cell yield after isolation. In the ESWT group, the quality of culture, reflected in consistently higher purity (S100b, morphology), proliferation rate (5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine, population doublings per passage) and expression of regenerative phenotype-associated markers (P75, glial fibrillary acidic protein, c-Jun), was significantly improved. In contrast, the control group exhibited progressively senescent behavior, reflected in a decrease of proliferation, loss of specific markers and increase in P16(INK4A) expression.
  
  
  
  ESWT has beneficial effects on Schwann cell isolation and culture.
authors.affiliation: AUVA Research Center, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Experimental and Clinical Traumatology, Vienna, Austria; Austrian Cluster for Tissue Regeneration, Vienna, Austria. Electronic address: christina.schuh@trauma.lbg.ac.at.
authors.forename: Christina M A P
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Schuh
authors.affiliation: AUVA Research Center, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Experimental and Clinical Traumatology, Vienna, Austria; Austrian Cluster for Tissue Regeneration, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hercher
authors.affiliation: AUVA Research Center, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Experimental and Clinical Traumatology, Vienna, Austria; Austrian Cluster for Tissue Regeneration, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Michaela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stainer
authors.affiliation: AUVA Research Center, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Experimental and Clinical Traumatology, Vienna, Austria; Austrian Cluster for Tissue Regeneration, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Rudolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hopf
authors.affiliation: Austrian Cluster for Tissue Regeneration, Vienna, Austria; Department of Biochemical Engineering, University of Applied Sciences Technikum Wien, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Andreas H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Teuschl
authors.affiliation: AUVA Research Center, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Experimental and Clinical Traumatology, Vienna, Austria; Austrian Cluster for Tissue Regeneration, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schmidhammer
authors.affiliation: AUVA Research Center, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Experimental and Clinical Traumatology, Vienna, Austria; Austrian Cluster for Tissue Regeneration, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Heinz
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Redl
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002469:Cell Separation / Q000379:methods; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D019220:High-Energy Shock Waves / Q000009:adverse effects*; D009416:Nerve Regeneration / Q000502:physiology*; D010525:Peripheral Nerves / Q000166:cytology*; D010641:Phenotype; D051381:Rats; D012583:Schwann Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D012584:Sciatic Nerve / Q000166:cytology*
chemical_list: D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein
keywords: Schwann cells; extracorporeal shockwave treatment; peripheral nerve regeneration