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Peripheral Nerve Repair Through Multi-Luminal Biosynthetic Implants

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Abstract

Peripheral nerve damage is routinely repaired by autogenic nerve grafting, often leading to less than optimal functional recovery at the expense of healthy donor nerves. Alternative repair strategies use tubular scaffolds to guide the regeneration of damaged nerves, but despite the progress made on improved structural materials for the nerve tubes, functional recovery remains incomplete. We developed a biosynthetic nerve implant (BNI) consisting of a hydrogel-based transparent multichannel scaffold with luminar collagen matrix as a 3-D substrate for nerve repair. Using a rat sciatic nerve injury model we showed axonal regeneration through the BNI to be histologically comparable to the autologous nerve repair. At 10 weeks post-injury, nerve defects repaired with collagen-filled, single lumen tubes formed single nerve cables, while animals that received the multi-luminal BNIs showed multiple nerve cables and the formation of a perineurial-like layer within the available microchannels. Total numbers of myelinated and unmyelinated axons in the BNI were increased 3-fold and 30%, respectively, compared to collagen tubes. The recovery of reflexive movement confirmed the functional regeneration of both motor and sensory neurons. This study supports the use of multi-luminal BNIs as a viable alternative to autografts in the repair of nerve gap injuries.

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Acknowledgments

We thank P. Galvan-Garcia, S. Pierce, C. Smith, L. Watterkote, D. Muirhead, M. Allen, R. Sharma, and R. Daniel for technical assistance. This work was funded by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children Intramural Grants (MIR).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shepherd Center, Atlanta, GA, 30309, USA

    K. E. Tansey

  2. Departments of Neurology and Physiology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 30309, USA

    K. E. Tansey

  3. Atlanta Veteran’s Administration Medical Center, Atlanta, GA, 30309, USA

    K. E. Tansey

  4. Regenerative Neurobiology Laboratory, Department of Bioengineering, University of Texas at Arlington, 500 UTA Blvd. ERB 347, Arlington, TX, 76019, USA

    J. L. Seifert

  5. Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, 75390, USA

    B. Botterman

  6. Regenerative Neurobiology Division, Seay Center for Musculoskeletal Research, Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, Dallas, TX, 75219, USA

    M. R. Delgado

  7. Department of Neurology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, 75390, USA

    M. R. Delgado

  8. Regenerative Neurobiology Laboratory, Department of Bioengineering, University of Texas at Arlington, 500 UTA Blvd. ERB 242, Arlington, TX, 76019, USA

    M. I. Romero

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  1. K. E. Tansey
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Correspondence to M. I. Romero.

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Associate Editor Kent Leach oversaw the review of this article.

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Tansey, K.E., Seifert, J.L., Botterman, B. et al. Peripheral Nerve Repair Through Multi-Luminal Biosynthetic Implants. Ann Biomed Eng 39, 1815–1828 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-011-0277-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-011-0277-6

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