Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Tissue-engineered artificial nerve was successfully constructed with the compound of acellular nerve graft and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, suggesting that it could promote peripheral neural regeneration.
OBJECTIVE: To construct tissue-engineered artificial nerve, and to verify neural functional recovery of bridging rats following sciatic nerve defect.
METHODS: A total of 60 adult male SD rats were used to induce sciatic nerve defect models (15 mm in length), and they were then randomly divided into three groups, with 20 rats in each group. Sciatic nerve defect group was treated with tissue-engineered artificial nerve; blank control group was treated with tissue-engineered nerve stent; autoallergic neural control group was treated with autoallergic neural transplantation. Twelve weeks after bridging, histology of sciatic nerve and neural functional recovery were detected via gross observation, wet mass of tibialis anterior muscle, and histological analysis.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: At 12 weeks after bridging surgery, rats in experimental group were able to stand on the floor, and withdrawal reflex was detected at plantar skin on the surgical side. S-100 protein of plantar skin was positive. There was no significant difference in wet mass of tibialis anterior muscle between experimental and autoallergic neural transplantation group (P > 0.05). HRP retrograde tracing in the experimental group demonstrated that HRP-positive cells were observed in both spinal cord and posterior root ganglion. There was no significant difference in number of myelinated nerve fiber, thickness of myelin sheath, and area of nerve tissue between experimental and autoallergic neural transplantation group. The results demonstrated that the compound of acellular nerve graft and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells could successfully construct tissue-engineered artificial nerve to repair sciatic nerve defect and promote neurohistological reconstruction and functional recovery.