The potential roles for adipose tissue in peripheral nerve regeneration

Abstract

Introduction This review summarizes current understanding about the role of adipose-derived tissues in peripheral nerve regeneration and discusses potential advances that would translate this approach into the clinic. Methods We searched PubMed for in vivo, experimental studies on the regenerative effects of adipose-derived tissues on peripheral nerve injuries. We summarized the methods and results for the 42 experiments. Results Adipose-derived tissues enhanced peripheral nerve regeneration in 86% of the experiments. Ninety-five percent evaluated purified, cultured, or differentiated adipose tissue. These approaches have regulatory and scaling burdens, restricting clinical usage. Only one experiment tested the ability of adipose tissue to enhance nerve regeneration in conjunction with nerve autografts, the clinical gold standard. Conclusion Scientific studies illustrate that adipose-derived tissues enhance regeneration of peripheral nerves. Before this approach achieves clinical acceptance, fat processing must become automated and regulatory approval achieved. Animal studies using whole fat grafts are greatly needed for clinical translation.

Regeneration of nerve crush injury using adipose‐derived stem cells: A multimodal comparison

“…33 Therefore, we chose rASCs to accelerate peripheral nerve regeneration because it has been shown that ASCs enhance peripheral nerve regeneration in 86% of experiments. 34 Our results are also in line with those of Song et al 35 These researchers reported that ASCs significantly improved the erectile response to cavernous nerve stimulation and increased endogenous phosphor-endothelial nitric oxide synthase phosphorylation and angiogenic factors compared with controls (nerve crush and phosphate buffered saline). 35 For future studies, we will evaluate the effect of CR-only as a comparison group.…”

“…However, samples of amniotic membrane must be collected immediately after caesarean surgery . Therefore, we chose rASCs to accelerate peripheral nerve regeneration because it has been shown that ASCs enhance peripheral nerve regeneration in 86% of experiments …”

Epineural adipose‐derived stem cell injection in a sciatic rodent model

“…In particular, differentiated ASCs could be a clinically translatable route toward new methods to enhance peripheral nerve repair (Kappos et al., ). Thus, we selected epineural rASC injection with the idea to boost peripheral nerve regeneration as it has be shown that ASCs enhance peripheral nerve regeneration in 86% of the experiments (Walocko, Khouri, Urbanchek, Levi, & Cederna, ). However, it has been suggested that it is possible for peripheral nerve fibers to spontaneously regenerate when continuity of the nerve is maintained during injury (Walocko et al., ), such as in our current study.…”

Stem‐cell–based therapies to enhance peripheral nerve regeneration

“…However, they can be effectively differentiated along ectodermal lines, with SC‐like ADSCs, first described in 2007 by Kingham and colleagues . Numerous studies have focused on neuroregenerative effects of adipose tissue using purified, cultured, differentiated, or dedifferentiated adipose‐derived tissues . ADSCs have also been extensively investigated for use in peripheral nerve regeneration, with promising results.…”

“…38 Numerous studies have focused on neuroregenerative effects of adipose tissue using purified, cultured, differentiated, or dedifferentiated adipose-derived tissues. [59][60][61] ADSCs have also been extensively investigated for use in peripheral nerve regeneration, with promising results. They produce mRNA for the growth factors BDNF, glial-growth-like factor (GGF), neurogulin-1 (NRG-1), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), and insulin-like growth factor (IGF) on par or greater than SCs in culture.…”