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Tissue-engineered scaffolds are effective alternatives to autografts for bridging peripheral nerve gaps.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Yu, X; Bellamkonda, RV
Published in: Tissue engineering
June 2003

The use of autografts for "bridging" peripheral nerve gaps is limited by lack of suitable donor nerve grafts. Using a tissue-engineering approach, we have designed a three-dimensional scaffold that presents laminin 1 (LN-1) and nerve growth factor (NGF) in vivo. Semipermeable polysulfone tubes were used as carriers to introduce the tissue-engineered scaffolds to a 10-mm sciatic nerve gap in adult rats. Two months after implantation, the gross morphology of the regenerated nerve, the success rate of regeneration, and the total number and density of myelinated axons in the tissue-engineered scaffolds matched that observed in autografts. LN-1- and NGF-containing scaffolds performed comparably to autografts when functional measures that include the relative gastrocnemius muscle weight and the sciatic functional index were quantified. Our results demonstrate that tissue-engineered scaffolds match the performance of autografts in an in vivo model of peripheral nerve regeneration, raising the possibility of the scaffolds being used clinically instead of scarce autografts.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Tissue engineering

DOI

EISSN

1557-8690

ISSN

1076-3279

Publication Date

June 2003

Volume

9

Issue

3

Start / End Page

421 / 430

Related Subject Headings

  • Transplantation, Autologous
  • Sciatic Nerve
  • Rats
  • Peripheral Nervous System Diseases
  • Nerve Growth Factor
  • Nerve Fibers, Myelinated
  • Laminin
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Biocompatible Materials
  • Animals
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
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Yu, X., & Bellamkonda, R. V. (2003). Tissue-engineered scaffolds are effective alternatives to autografts for bridging peripheral nerve gaps. Tissue Engineering, 9(3), 421–430. https://doi.org/10.1089/107632703322066606
Yu, Xiaojun, and Ravi V. Bellamkonda. “Tissue-engineered scaffolds are effective alternatives to autografts for bridging peripheral nerve gaps.Tissue Engineering 9, no. 3 (June 2003): 421–30. https://doi.org/10.1089/107632703322066606.
Yu, Xiaojun, and Ravi V. Bellamkonda. “Tissue-engineered scaffolds are effective alternatives to autografts for bridging peripheral nerve gaps.Tissue Engineering, vol. 9, no. 3, June 2003, pp. 421–30. Epmc, doi:10.1089/107632703322066606.

Published In

Tissue engineering

DOI

EISSN

1557-8690

ISSN

1076-3279

Publication Date

June 2003

Volume

9

Issue

3

Start / End Page

421 / 430

Related Subject Headings

  • Transplantation, Autologous
  • Sciatic Nerve
  • Rats
  • Peripheral Nervous System Diseases
  • Nerve Growth Factor
  • Nerve Fibers, Myelinated
  • Laminin
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Biocompatible Materials
  • Animals