Electrospun poly(L-lactide-co-glycolide) biodegradable polymer nanofibre tubes for peripheral nerve regeneration

Abstract

Nanotechnology is an area receiving increasing attention as progress is made towards tailoring the morphology of polymeric biomaterial for a variety of applications. In the present study an attempt was made to electrospin poly(L-lactide-co-glycolide) biodegradable polymer nanofibres. In this process, polymer fibres with diameters down to the nanometre range are formed by subjecting a fluid jet to a high electric field. The nanofibres were collected on to a rotating Teflon mandrel and fabricated to tubes or conduits, to function as nerve guidance channels. The feasibility of in vivo nerve regeneration was investigated through several of these conduits. The biological performance of the conduits were examined in the rat sciatic nerve model with a 10 mm gap length. After implantation of the nanofibre nerve guidance conduit to the right sciatic nerve of the rat, there was no inflammatory response. One month after implantation five out of eleven rats showed successful nerve regeneration. None of the implanted tubes showed tube breakage. The nanofibre nerve guidance conduits were flexible, permeable and showed no swelling. Thus, these new poly(L-lactide-co-glycolide) nanofibre conduits can be effective aids for nerve regeneration and repair. Improvements could be done by impregnating nerve growth factors or Schwann cells and may lead to clinical applications.

Nanostructured materials for applications in drug delivery and tissue engineering

“…Many studies have been carried out in the application of polymer nanofibers in the tissue engineering of bone [159], blood vessel [160], cartilage [161][162][163], cardiac tissue [164], peripheral nerve system [165], ligaments [166], liver [167] and skin [162]. In most of these studies, biodegradable polymer materials such as PCL, PLA, PGA and PLGA were used.…”

Types of neural guides and using nanotechnology for peripheral nerve reconstruction

“…This method has been used to design neural tubes of different materials like natural polymers of chitosan 78 or synthetic polymers like PLGA. 79,80 Various factors affect the size of these fibers. These nanofibers increase neural cell adhesion.…”

Effect of Polymer Molecular Weight on the Electrospinning of Polylactides in Entangled and Aligned Fiber Forms

“…Since the electrospun PLA fibers have high potential as biomedical materials used for tissue engineering, biosensors, and drug delivery system [3][4][5][6][7][8][9], such aligning electrospun PLLA fibers can find better application in the same field. For example, F. Yang et al [4] studied cell proliferation on the aligning electrospun PLA fibers to find out that growth of the neural stem cells is improved on the aligned fibers.…”