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