title: Natural Occurring Silks and Their Analogues as Materials for Nerve Conduits.
abstract: Spider silk and its synthetic derivatives have a light weight in combination with good strength and elasticity. Their high cytocompatibility and low immunogenicity make them well suited for biomaterial products such as nerve conduits. Silk proteins slowly degrade enzymatically in vivo, thus allowing for an initial therapeutic effect such as in nerve scaffolding to facilitate endogenous repair processes, and then are removed. Silks are biopolymers naturally produced by many species of arthropods including spiders, caterpillars and mites. The silk fibers are secreted by the labial gland of the larvae of some orders of Holometabola (insects with pupa) or the spinnerets of spiders. The majority of studies using silks for biomedical applications use materials from silkworms or spiders, mostly of the genusNephila clavipes. Silk is one of the most promising biomaterials with effects not only in nerve regeneration, but in a number of regenerative applications. The development of silks for human biomedical applications is of high scientific and clinical interest. Biomaterials in use for biomedical applications have to meet a number of requirements such as biocompatibility and elicitation of no more than a minor inflammatory response, biodegradability in a reasonable time and specific structural properties. Here we present the current status in the field of silk-based conduit development for nerve repair and discuss current advances with regard to potential clinical transfer of an implantable nerve conduit for enhancement of nerve regeneration.
authors: Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Medical University of Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, 1090 Vienna, Austria. christine.radtke@meduniwien.ac.at.
authors: Christine
authors: C
authors: Radtke
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D012831:Bombyx / Q000378:metabolism*; D009416:Nerve Regeneration / Q000502:physiology*; D009417:Nerve Tissue / Q000378:metabolism; D019736:Prostheses and Implants; D047011:Silk / Q000737:chemistry*; D013112:Spiders / Q000378:metabolism*; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D047011:Silk
keywords: Schwann cells; axonal regeneration; nerve defect injury; remyelination; spider genus Nephila clavipes