Autografts or allografts are commonly used in neurosurgery. Unfortunately, autografts have limitations such as body injury, repeated surgeries and disproportion of grafted nerve tissue in terms of size and structure. In addition, a similar problem, i.e., stimulation of the immune system, will be encountered in transplantation of allografts or xenografts. Some studies used artificial nerve conduits to repair nerve defects. Among the artificial nerve conduits used, nanofibrous poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) conduits exhibit several advantages. One advantage of these nerve conduits is that they can be bent to an angle of up to 180˚ and then restore to their original shape, which is necessary for adaptation inside a living system. Moreover, the PHBV conduits have a thin wall and a highly porous structure, which are important determinants for nutrient transport into the conduit. A further advantage is that they can be easily fabricated and rolled to any required length and diameter by heat processing. Dr. Esmaeil Biazar and team from Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon, Iran used nanofibrous PHBV conduit and autologous sciatic nerve to bridge 30-mm-long rat sciatic nerve gaps. Within 4 months after surgery, rat sciatic nerve functional recovery was evaluated per month by behavioral analyses. Results showed that rat sciatic nerve functional recovery was similar after nanofibrous PHBV conduit and autologous nerve grafting. These findings, published in the Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 8, No. 27, 2013), suggest that nanofibrous PHBV conduit is suitable in use for repair of long-segment sciatic nerve defects.
Article: " Efficacy of nanofibrous conduits in repair of long- segment sciatic nerve defects," by Esmaeil Biazar1, Saeed Heidari Keshel2, 3, Majid Pouya4 (1 Department of Biomaterial Engineering, Tonekabon Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon, Iran; 2 Student Research Committee, Proteomics Research Center, Faculty of Paramedical Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 3 Department of Tissue Engineering, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 4 Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tonekabon Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon, Iran)
Biazar E, Heidari SK, Pouya M. Efficacy of nanofibrous conduits in repair of long-segment sciatic nerve defects. Neural Regen Res. 2013;8(27):2501-2509.
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Journal
Neural Regeneration Research