Abstract
Regeneration and recovery of nerve tissues are a great challenge for medicine, and positively affect the quality of life of patients. The development of tissue engineering offers a new approach to the problem with the creation of multifunctional artificial scaffolds that act on various levels in the damaged tissue, providing physical and biochemical support for the growth of nerve cells. In this study, the effects of the use of a tubular scaffold made of polybutylene succinate (PBS), surgically positioned at the level of a sciatic nerve injured in rat, between the proximal stump and the distal one, was investigated. Scaffolds characterization was carried out by scanning electron microscopy and X‐ray microcomputed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, in vivo. The demonstration of the nerve regeneration was based on the evaluation of electroneurography, measuring the weight of gastrocnemius and tibialis anterior muscles, histological examination of regenerated nerves and observing the recovery of the locomotor activity of animals. The PBS tubular scaffold minimized iatrogenic trauma on the nerve, acting as a directional guide for the regenerating fibers by conveying them toward the distal stump. In this context, neurotrophic and neurotropic factors may accumulate and perform their functions, while invasion by macrophages and scar tissue is hampered.
Highlights
Damage to the central and peripheral nervous system causes irreversible effects and current treatment strategies do not offer reliable results
The skin and superficial and deep hind limb muscles were dissected under a surgical microscope, and 10 mm of sciatic nerve was removed from each animal of Group 1 (G1) and Group 2 (G2) at the same anatomic location (5 mm distal to where the sciatic nerve crosses the tendon of the internal obturator muscle)
The present study demonstrates that the use of the planar polybutylene succinate (PBS) scaffold is a more effective method of fixing the injured two portions of the sciatic nerve, to preserve nerve continuity and promote its regeneration
Summary
Damage to the central and peripheral nervous system causes irreversible effects and current treatment strategies do not offer reliable results. Its versatility includes application in bone regeneration or myocardial tissue replacement and different manufacturing approaches, including salt leaching, electrospinning or extrusion techniques.[23,24,25,26,27,28] In this study, PBS was tested as biomaterials for the production of nanostructured conduits for severed nerve regeneration To this aim, microfibrillar PBS-based 3D scaffolds, produced by electrospinning technique,[29] were implanted and tested for stimulating and guiding peripheral nerve functional regeneration in rat models of sciatic nerve transection, in order to assess their in-vivo biocompatibility and effectiveness as nerve guidance structures and improve regeneration. The promising obtained results encourage to further investigate the use of this innovative and efficient surgical strategy for treatment and bridging of extreme nerve injuries, proposing PBSbased microfibrillar 3D scaffolds as regenerative sheath and in situ therapeutic reservoir for the biological stimulating factors that naturally improve axonal reconstruction and accelerate overall functional recovery
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