Natural-Based Biomaterials for Peripheral Nerve Injury Repair

Abstract

Peripheral nerve injury treatment is a relevant problem because of nerve lesion high incidence and because of unsatisfactory regeneration after severe injuries, thus resulting in a reduced patient's life quality. To repair severe nerve injuries characterized by substance loss and to improve the regeneration outcome at both motor and sensory level, different strategies have been investigated. Although autograft remains the gold standard technique, a growing number of research articles concerning nerve conduit use has been reported in the last years. Nerve conduits aim to overcome autograft disadvantages, but they must satisfy some requirements to be suitable for nerve repair. A universal ideal conduit does not exist, since conduit properties have to be evaluated case by case; nevertheless, because of their high biocompatibility and biodegradability, natural-based biomaterials have great potentiality to be used to produce nerve guides. Although they share many characteristics with synthetic biomaterials, natural-based biomaterials should also be preferable because of their extraction sources; indeed, these biomaterials are obtained from different renewable sources or food waste, thus reducing environmental impact and enhancing sustainability in comparison to synthetic ones. This review reports the strengths and weaknesses of natural-based biomaterials used for manufacturing peripheral nerve conduits, analyzing the interactions between natural-based biomaterials and biological environment. Particular attention was paid to the description of the preclinical outcome of nerve regeneration in injury repaired with the different natural-based conduits.

Silver Nanoparticle-Anchored Human Hair Kerateine/PEO/PVA Nanofibers for Antibacterial Application and Cell Proliferation

“…These unique structures and biological properties make keratin the focus of the biomedical field, including wound dressing, tissue engineering and drug delivery [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 ]. Nevertheless, the shortcomings of brittleness, poor mechanical properties and processing properties limit the practical use of keratin [ 13 , 14 ]. Synthetic or natural polymers are usually added as plasticizers and crosslinkers to form composite materials to improve these defects of keratin, such as poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), polylactic acid, chitosan, gelatin, poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and polyurethane [ 8 , 11 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ].…”

Materials for peripheral nerve repair constructs: Natural proteins or synthetic polymers?

“…In preclinical research natural proteins like collagen, chitosan and silk are often employed for their cellular compatibility. Other natural proteins widely used in repair constructs are gelatin, alginate and hyaluronic acid (Fornasari et al, 2020). In contrast, synthetic materials such as polyesters may be used for their superior mechanical properties and ease of processing.…”

Peripheral Nerve Injury Treatments and Advances: One Health Perspective

“…An ideal NGC has some requirements, including structural features to longitudinally align the regeneration axons, biomimetic architecture, mechanical properties to provide structural support, adequate permeability for trophic support, wall thickness, specific conduit diameter, compliance, neuro inductivity, low toxicity, electrical conductivity, biodegradability, biocompatibility and flexibility [1,2,43,75]. In 1982, the first application of NGCs was made, using non-resorbable silicon tubes to repair a 6mm nerve gap.…”