In Vivo Peripheral Nerve Repair Using Tendon-Derived Nerve Guidance Conduits

Abstract

There is an urgent need for a peripheral nerve repair product that can match or exceed the abilities of the current “gold-standard”, nerve autografts. Using a sectioning-based fabrication technique, decellularized tendon sections formed into tubular conduits that maintain the native structure of the collagen. Our previous studies have demonstrated that these collagen structures provide nanotopographical growth guidance cues for regenerating neurons and support glia. Here, the regenerative abilities of the tendon-derived nerve guidance conduits to repair a critically sized defect (15 mm) are evaluated in a rat sciatic nerve model. Using the conduits, functional recovery occurs at a similar rate to isografts, when evaluated with a sciatic function index test. However, muscular recovery, as measured by gastrocnemius weight, was not as great in the conduit-treated group. Both conduit and isograft repairs are histologically evaluated using Masson’s trichrome stain and immunofluorescent staining for neurofilament-160 and S100 (markers for neurons and Schwann cells, respectively). This evaluation shows that by week 14, conduits promote regrowth of both neuronal tissue and some physiological support structures, such as blood vessels and epi/perineurium-like structures. Lastly, positive staining for these two markers at week 14 is calculated as a quantitative means of assessment, and shows greater total content of neurofilament-160 and S100 in conduits than in isografts, but a smaller percent area, which may be a result of the greater cross-sectional area of the conduit.

Evaluation of an elastic decellularized tendon‐derived scaffold for the vascular tissue engineering application

“…Since the mechanical properties of tissue engineered vascular grafts are determined by the properties of the scaffold before the developing tissue produces its own matrix, it is important that the scaffold can provide appropriate physical and mechanical properties at the early stages of tissue development. Collagen has been shown to be an appropriate material in many biomedical applications; for instance, decellularized tendon‐derived scaffold was shown to be a suitable substrate for nerve regeneration in both in vitro and in vivo studies . In this study, we evaluated the feasibility of using decellularized tendon‐derived scaffolds for vascular regeneration applications.…”

“…Collagen has been shown to be an appropriate material in many biomedical applications; 29,30 for instance, decellularized tendon-derived scaffold was shown to be a suitable substrate for nerve regeneration in both in vitro and in vivo studies. 31,32 In this study, we evaluated the feasibility of using decellularized tendon-derived scaffolds for vascular regeneration applications. Since elasticity is essential for these applications, 33 the scaffolds were crosslinked with the bovine elastin to add an elastic component to the constructs.…”

A conductive sodium alginate and carboxymethyl chitosan hydrogel doped with polypyrrole for peripheral nerve regeneration

“…In order to verify that the conductive hydrogel had the potential to be a practical biomaterial, the SA/CMCS/PPy hydrogel was tested as a nerve conduit lling material in rat experiment. [45][46][47] According to the experimental steps mentioned in the method, Fig. 7(A and B) shows the complete process of operation and extraction.…”

Biocompatibility and degradation of tendon-derived scaffolds

“…We have developed a sectioning-based fabrication technique, called Bioskiving, which allows fabrication of two- and three-dimensional scaffolds directly from decellularized tendon sections using sectioning, stacking and rolling [ 11 ]. This process maintains the highly aligned hierarchical structure of the native collagen found in tendon which provide nanotopographical growth guidance cues [ 12 , 13 ], and improves the mechanical properties [ 14 ]. Scaffolds created using this process could find use in many tissue engineering, and biomedical applications where the biocompatibility of the material and degradation characteristics would be important considerations for use.…”