Chinese Journal of Tissue Engineering Research ›› 2016, Vol. 20 ›› Issue (25): 3744-3749.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.2095-4344.2016.25.015

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Heparan sulfate/collagen nerve tissue-engineered scaffolds repair peripheral nerve injury

Gan Xiao1, Nan Wu-li2   

  1. 1Department of Traumatic Surgery, Central Hospital of Nanyang, Nnayang 473009, Henan Province, China; 2First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450000, Henan Province, China
  • Received:2016-03-26 Online:2016-06-17 Published:2016-06-17
  • About author:Gan Xiao, Attending physician, Department of Traumatic Surgery, Central Hospital of Nanyang, Nnayang 473009, Henan Province, China

Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Nerve tissue-engineered scaffolds must have axially aligned structures, that can promote oriented growth of new axons, to guarantee the effective repair and regeneration of damaged nerves.

 
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of heparin sulfate/collagen nerve tissue-engineered scaffolds on peripheral nerve injury repair.
METHODS: Heparin sulfate/collagen nerve tissue-engineered scaffolds were prepared, and its internal structure and porosity was observed and measured. Then rat Schwann cells were seeded on the scaffolds to observe cell adhesion. Afterwards, 32 rats undergoing removal of left sciatic nerve were randomly divided into two groups (n=16 per group), and the rats were implanted by heparin sulfate/collagen nerve tissue-ergineered scaffolds as experimentd group, and the rats were implanted by autdogous sciatic nerve as control group. At 16 weeks after implantation, diameter, thickness of myelin sheath as well as density of myelinated nerve fiber, the percentage of neural tissue and electrophysiology was detected, respectively.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The tissue-engineered scaffolds whose porosity was 91% were composed of microtubules arranging parallelly along the axial direction, and the microtubule diameter was 180 µm; the scaffolds had good biocompatibility with the Schwann cells. In addition, at 16 weeks after implantation, no significant differences were found in myelin sheath thickness, myelinated nerve fiber density, as well as conduction velocity and latency of motor and sensory nerves between two groups; compared with the control group, diameter of myelinated nerve fiber, percentage of neural tissue and amplitude of motor and sensory nerves in the experimental group were significantly decreased (P < 0.05). To conclude, the heparin sulfate/collagen nerve tissue-engineered scaffold can effectively repair peripheral nerve injury, but its effect is weaker than that of autologous nerve repair.

 

Key words: Tissue Scaffolds, Spinal Cord Injuries, Peripheral nerves, Tissue Engineering

CLC Number: