Chapter 9 Artificial Scaffolds for Peripheral Nerve Reconstruction

Fabrication and characterization of poly-(ε)-caprolactone and bioactive glass composites for tissue engineering applications

“…For example, one of the reasons silicone or similar material conduits fail as nerve guidance conduits is their lack of degradation. As new tissues form, the continued presence of silicone prevents tissue growth and impedes regeneration due to compression [30,31,9,32]. Here, we studied the degradation properties of PCL alone, as a commonly used material control, and PCL with bioactive borate glass particles, bioactive silicate glass particles, or a blend of both.…”

Evaluation of periodic electrodiagnostic measurements to monitor motor recovery after different peripheral nerve lesions in the rat

“…[22][23][24] The advantage of minimally invasive electrodiagnostic methods that allow periodic evaluation of reinnervation at predefined time intervals without euthanizing the animals or interfering with the progress of regeneration 16 seems not to be widely recognized or routinely used to assess the progress of peripheral nerve regeneration. 17 The development of tissue-engineered nerve grafts is an emerging field, [25][26][27][28] and evaluation protocols that allow objective assessment of different regeneration parameters are of high importance. 17,29 For observation periods that usually last several months it would be advantageous to use a measure to closely monitor regeneration-related changes within the nerve to distinguish promising approaches from less fruitful ones as early as possible.…”

Tailoring of chitosan scaffolds with heparin and γ-aminopropyltriethoxysilane for promoting peripheral nerve regeneration

“…Schwann cells are the most frequently used cells for evaluating the peripheral regeneration process [23], because they could produce growth factor and secrete extracellular matrix for the formation of myelin sheaths in nerve regeneration [10,24]. Thus, in this study Schwann cells culture were used to preliminary assess the feasibility of using the charge processed CS scaffolds for potential application in peripheral nerve regeneration.…”