Nerve Tissue Prefabrication Inside the Rat Femoral Bone: Does It Work?
OBJECTIVE
To investigate whether nerve regeneration can be induced in the tubular bone between distal and proximal cut nerve ends.


METHODS
Twenty adult Wistar rats were used for the study. Rats were divided into three groups; femoral bone conduit group, nerve transection group, sham group. The sciatic nerve was surgically cut and from both ends inserted into the adjacent femoral bone tunnel in the femoral bone conduit group. The sciatic nerve was cut transversely in the nerve transection group. In the Sham group, only sciatic nerve exploration was performed, without a nerve cut. The groups were evaluated functionally and morphologically.


RESULTS
All results showed that axonal growth existed through the osseous canal.


CONCLUSIONS
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate neural regeneration inside the bone. We can speculate that the bone marrow provides a convenient microenvironment for peripheral nerve regeneration. In addition to prefabricating peripheral nerves, this novel model may help to establish further strategies for engineering of other tissues in the bone marrow.
Eskisehir Osmangazi University, Medical Faculty, Department of Neurosurgery, Eskisehir, Turkey.
Zuhtu
Z
Ozbek
Atacan Emre
AE
Kocman
Orhan
O
Ozatik
Erdem
E
Soztutar
Emre
E
Ozkara
Aydan
A
Kose
Ali
A
Arslantas
Cengiz
C
Cetin
D000818:Animals; D060833:Cellular Microenvironment / Q000502:physiology; D005269:Femur / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008297:Male; D009416:Nerve Regeneration / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D012584:Sciatic Nerve / Q000293:injuries*