Abstract
Abstract Peripheral nerve injuries resulting from various traumatic events can cause mobility problems and sensory impairment, jeopardizing patients’ life quality and bringing serious economic burdens. Due to the shortcomings of autologous nerve grafts, such as limited tissue sources, unmatched size, and loss of innervation at the donor site, tissue-engineered nerve grafts using both natural and synthetic materials have been employed in the treatment of peripheral nerve defect and to promote nerve regeneration. Apart from traditional advantages such as good biocompatibility and controllable degradation, the development of fabrication technology and the advancement in material science have endowed tissue-engineered nerve conduits with upgraded properties such as biomimetic surface topography, extracellular matrix components, neurotrophic factors, and cell seeding, or a conduit with micropores on the surface for substance exchange and/or with fillers inside for microenvironment simulation. This article reviews recent progress in the biomaterials employed in fabricating tissue-engineered nerve conduits, in vitro characterization, and their applications in nerve repair in animal studies as well as in clinical trials.
Highlights
Peripheral nerve injury is common in traffic accidents, industrial accidents, and penetrating trauma, which can cause mobility problems, sensory impairment, and even paralysis and seriously affect patients’ life quality
As the microenvironment factors could significantly modulate the growth of axons inside a nerve conduit, significant progress has been made in exploring new materials, modification of conduit structure and components, as well as nerve repair in animal models and human clinical trials
As early as in 2006, Gu’s group demonstrated that silk fibroin was biocompatible with nerve cells and nerve tissues such as Schwann cells and hippocampal neurons [47,48]. They assembled a novel conduit with silk fibrin wall and oriented silk fibroin fibers inside to bridge over a sciatic nerve defect of 10 mm in vivo
Summary
Peripheral nerve injury is common in traffic accidents, industrial accidents, and penetrating trauma, which can cause mobility problems, sensory impairment, and even paralysis and seriously affect patients’ life quality. Schwann cells are critical for nerve regeneration since they are able to transdifferentiate into repairing phenotype and modulate immune cells such as macrophages to facilitate nerve regeneration They are responsible for maintaining the structure of Büngner bands and basal lamina tubes [6,7]. As the most effective treatment, autogenous nerve tissues can provide supportive structure, guidance cues, neurotrophic factors, and Schwann cells without the risk of immune rejection, but complications such as secondary surgery and donor site dysfunction are of significant concern [18,19]. As the microenvironment factors could significantly modulate the growth of axons inside a nerve conduit, significant progress has been made in exploring new materials, modification of conduit structure and components, as well as nerve repair in animal models and human clinical trials. This article provides a comprehensive review of material advancement in tissue-engineered nerve conduit
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
