Brain Advance Access originally published online on May 4, 2005
Brain 2005 128(8):1897-1910; doi:10.1093/brain/awh517
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Dog sciatic nerve regeneration across a 30-mm defect bridged by a chitosan/PGA artificial nerve graft
Key Laboratory of Neuroregeneration, Nantong University, Nantong City, Jiangsu, People's Republic of China
Correspondence to: Xiaosong Gu, Key Laboratory of Neuroregeneration, Nantong University, 19 Qixiu Road, Nantong, JS 226001, P.R. China E-mail: neurongu{at}public.nt.js.cn
We have developed a dual-component artificial nerve graft comprising an outer microporous conduit of chitosan and internal oriented filaments of polyglycolic acid (PGA). The novel graft was used for bridging sciatic nerve across a 30-mm defect in six Beagle dogs, which were used as a chitosan/PGA graft group. The other Beagle dogs were divided into an autograft group (n = 6) as the positive control and a non-grafted group (n = 5) as the negative control. All animals of three groups were monitored for changes in their appearance and locomotion activities after surgery. Their posture and gait were recorded regularly with the aid of photographs and videotapes for each dog. Six months post-operatively, a combination of electrophysiological examination, FluoroGold retrograde tracing, histological assessment including light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy, immunohistochemistry as well as morphometric analyses to both regenerated nerves and target muscles was utilized to investigate the nerve repair effects of our artificial nerve graft. The results demonstrated that, in the chitosan/PGA graft group, the dog sciatic nerve trunk had been reconstructed with restoration of nerve continuity and functional recovery, and its target skeletal muscle had been re-innervated, improving locomotion activities of the operated limb. This study proves the feasibility of the chitosan/PGA artificial nerve graft for peripheral nerve regeneration by bridging a longer defect in a large animal model.
Key Words: artificial nerve graft; chitosan; polyglycolic acid; long sciatic nerve defects; dogs
Abbreviations: CMAP = compound muscle action potential; DG = distal graft; DN = distal sciatic nerve; DRG = dorsal root ganglia; FG = FluoroGold; NF = neurofilament; PBS = phosphate-buffered saline; PG = proximal graft; PGA = polyglycolic acid; PN = proximal sciatic nerve
Received October 28, 2004. Revised February 20, 2005. Second revision March 28, 2005. Accepted March 29, 2005.
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