Nerve Regeneration through Synthetic Biodegradable Nerve Guides

Bioresorbable polymers: heading for a new generation of spinal cages

“…PLA-based material has also been shown to be biocompatible with neural cells: proliferation of spinal cord Schwann cells is not affected by the material itself or its byproducts during degradation and has no effect on neuronal cells, non-neuronal cells, and axon growth [34]. In addition, PLA is biocompatible with nerve roots and peripheral nerves; polymer tubes are actually used for reattachment of nerve stumps [28,89]. PLA thus seems to be a more appropriate material for intervertebral cages than (copolymers of) PGA, not only in terms of degradation time, but also in terms of biocompatibility.…”

Nerve regeneration over a 25 mm gap in rat sciatic nerves using tubes containing blood vessels: the possibility of clinical application

“…Comparing the results of a vessel-containing tube with a 25 mm gap with a 10 mm gap in a similar tube [6], the number and mean diameter of axons in the 25 mm gap were 1500 and 1.9 mm at 24 weeks compared with 8000 and 2.4 mm in the 10 mm gap. This is due to the decrease of neurotropism from the distal nerve stumps which decreases as the distance between the stumps increases [10,19,21,24]. Neurotropism is weaker in tubes with a 25 mm gap than in those with a 10 mm gap.…”

Efecto de la permeabilidad en la regeneración del nervio ciático entubado de rata

“…El modelo de la entubación se ha convertido en una herramienta experimental muy útil para el estudio de los fenómenos básicos subyacentes en la regeneración del nervio periférico (1-3). Las guías tubulares que se han utilizado son hechas de diversos materiales y permeabilidades: sintéticas impermeables, semipermeables o totalmente permeables; biodegradables o de origen biológico (4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9). En la rata, los tubos de silicona impermeable permiten la regeneración de un mayor número de fibras mielinicas que los tubos acrilicos semipermeables (10).…”