Peripheral Nerve

Biological conduits

  • Acellular muscle grafts – can freeze thaw or heat treat to destroy cellular component, leaving behind the basal lamina
    • Muscle grafts have been shown to support regeneration comparable to nerve grafts over a 2cm rat sciatic nerve gap
    • In vivo the graft was penetrated by Schwann cells fibroblasts, perineural and endothelial cells, axon regenerated within 3 weeks
  • Vein grafts to bridge sensory nerve lesions in the hand but inferior to muscle
  • Small intestinal mucosa, stripped of its mucosal and serosal layers leaves an acellular collagen matrix which can be fashioned into a roll to bridge a nerve gap
  • Collagen can be shaped into a conduit – tubes have been prepared from rat tail tendon and shown to support moderate nerve rege across a 1cm gap

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