Stereologic and ultrastructural comparison of human and rat amniotic membrane wrapping for rat sciatic nerve repair

Can the amniotic membrane be used to treat peripheral nerve defects? A review of literature

“…The last element is that this tissue has very little immunogenicity based on the HLA (human leukocyte antigen) system [56]. On one hand, it has been stated that an allograft of amniotic membrane in animals provides a better environment for nerve regeneration than a xenograft [30]. On the other hand, the foreign body reaction is minimal when fresh human amniotic membrane xenograft is used in animal models [29,30].…”

“…From the PubMed search and after the inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied, 15 articles on animal models were analyzed and relevant data were extracted [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31] (Table 2). Among these 15 studies, 10 were published after 2009, evidence of the recent interest in using amniotic membrane for nerve repair.…”

“…The amniotic membrane typically measures 1-2 cm and is secured at each end by an epineural suture [17,19,[24][25][26]28,30,31], photochemical tissue bonding [22,23,27] or is left unsutured [21,29]. Only a few studies specified the orientation of the applied amnion: mesenchymal side against the nerve [21] or, more recently, epithelial side [29,31], after simulation of nerve wrapping in vitro [29].…”

Enhanced performance of chitosan/keratin membranes with potential application in peripheral nerve repair

“…6. This membrane has the following potential uses: (i) acting as a PNW around the damaged nerve, 73 protecting the site of nerve crush or repair by end-to-end surgery and avoiding post-operative nerve adhesion; (ii) bridging, as a NGC, the two nerve stumps after a severe peripheral nerve lesion with substance loss; 74 and (iii) acting as a luminal filler, where simple NGCs are enhanced by the introduction of a longitudinal membrane to reconstruct critical length injuries. 19 The choice of which strategy to use in clinics regarding the CHT/keratin membrane will mainly be dependent on the severity of the nerve injury.…”

Protection of laryngeal nerve palsy using amniotic membrane shield during thyroid surgery

“…Growth factors present in commercially available HACM include epidermal (EGF), basic broblast (bFGF), keratinocyte (KGF), transforming (TGF), vascular endothelial (VEGF), and nerve (NGF) growth factors (13)(14)(15)(16). Amniotic membrane tissue also is rich in mesenchymal stem cells and epithelial cells, which in concert with growth factors present have been shown to promote nerve, axon, and myelin regeneration in several animal models (17)(18)(19).…”