No abstract

The epineural tube is a viable, naturally occurring biologic conduit for nerve repair. Cotransplantation of BMSC-enhanced nerve regeneration by means of increased myelinization and expression of neurotrophic factors. Overall, obtained results with epineural tube/BMSC construct were comparable to autograft repair.

Our initial experience with treatment of high cervical and skull base dissections with the PED appears to show that this technique may be a safe and viable treatment option. However, long-term results are needed to fully evaluate the efficacy of such treatment.

In this study, we introduce a technique for bridging large neural gaps, using an isogenic vein graft supported with isogenic bone marrow stromal cells (BMSC). In three groups a nerve defect of 20 mm was bridged with a vein graft. Our first experimental group comprized an empty venous graft, in group II the venous nerve graft was filled with saline where as in group III the venous nerve graft was filled with BMSC. The animals were tested for functional recovery up to 3 months post repair. Our results show that the BMSC filled venous graft resulted in significantly better regeneration of the nerve defect compared to controls, as confirmed by the functional recovery measured by somatosensory evoked potentials, toe spread, pin prick, and gastrocnemius muscle index. Conclusively, the results confirm that the vein graft supported with BMSC is associated with better functional nerve regeneration.

Under physiologic conditions, the expression of GFAP by SCs is undetectable. As the inflammatory process develops, GFAP expression steadily increases with 100% of SCs being GFAP immunoreactive 7 days after chromic gut application. These data suggest that SCs are the primary source of GFAP in the DRG. We hypothesize that SC play an important role in the response to early inflammatory injury.