Journal
BIOMATERIALS
Volume 31, Issue 22, Pages 5789-5797Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2010.03.081
Keywords
Collagen; Nerve regeneration; Nerve conduit; Neural tissue engineering; In vivo
Funding
- Enterprise Ireland - Proof of Concept [PC/2007/027]
- Science Foundation Ireland - Research Frontiers Program [08/RFP/ENM1218]
- Science Foundation Ireland - The Short Term Travel Fellowship (STTF)
- Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine [W81XWH-08-2-0034]
- Leiden University Fund (LUF)/Slingelands
- Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) [08/RFP/ENM1218] Funding Source: Science Foundation Ireland (SFI)
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Single channel conduits are used clinically in nerve repair as an alternative to the autologous nerve graft. Axons regenerating across single channel tubes, however, may disperse resulting in inappropriate target reinnervation. This dispersion may be limited by multichannel nerve conduits as they resemble the structure of nerve multiple basal lamina tubes. In this study, we investigated the influence of channel number on the axonal regeneration using a series of 1-, 2-, 4-, and 7-channel collagen conduits and commercial (NeuraGen (R)) single channel conduits. Nerve conduits were implanted in rats with a 1 cm gap of sciatic nerve. After four months, quantitative results of regeneration were evaluated with nerve morphometry and the accuracy of regeneration was assessed using retrograde tracing: two tracers being applied simultaneously to tibial and peroneal nerves to determine the percentage of motor neurons with double projections. Recovery of function was investigated with compound muscle action potential recordings and ankle motion analysis. We showed that the fabricated 1-channel and 4-channel conduits are superior to other types of conduits in axonal regeneration. Simultaneous tracing showed a significantly lower percentage of motor neurons with double projections after 2- and 4-channel compared with 1-channel conduit repair. This study shows the potential influence of multichannel guidance on limiting dispersion without decreasing quantitative results of regeneration. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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