Efficacy of collagen conduit wrapping with collagen fibers on nerve regeneration in sciatic nerve injury with partial transection: An experimental study in the rat model

AbstractPeripheral nerve injuries (PNIs) include complete and partial transection, crushing, and chronic compression injuries. Hollow absorbable conduits are used to treat complete transection with short defects, while wrapping the injured part with an absorbent material promotes nerve recovery by inhibiting inflammatory cell infiltration and scar tissue formation in crush injuries. For treatment of partially transected nerve injuries (PTNIs), such as injection-related iatrogenic PNI, whether wrapping the entire nerve, including the injury site, or bridging the transected fascicle with an artificial nerve conduit (ANC) is beneficial remains to be verified. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether wrapping the injured nerve and placing collagen fibers as scaffolds at the nerve defect site contribute to neural recovery in PTNI. A unilateral 5-mm partial nerve defect was created at the mid-thigh level in a rat sciatic nerve injury model. Fifty-four Sprague –Dawley (SD) rats (150–250 g) were divided into three groups (n = 9 each): group 1, collagen fibers were placed in the nerve defect and the sciatic nerve was wrapped with collagen conduit; group 2, the sciatic nerve was wrapped by collagen conduit without collagen fibers; and group 3, nerve defect was reconstructed with collagen-filled conduit. Nerve regene ration was evaluated by analyses of gait, electrophysiology, wet muscle weight, and axon numbers with immunohistochemistry at 12 and 24 weeks. Dorsi...
Source: Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part B: Applied Biomaterials - Category: Materials Science Authors: Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research