Artificial nerve bridges

Implantation of Cells with Artificial Nerve Bridges. 149... 

With respect to the properties of the implant that will determine its success, two aspects can be distinguished first, the physical structure of the scaffold (see Sect. 3), and second, the biochemical functions of its materials (see Sect. 4). The basic structure of all artificial nerve bridges is a tubular graft to connect the proximal with the distal peripheral nerve stump (Fig. 2). 

Biocompatible materials are needed for the two essential components of the artificial nerve bridge, i.e., the surrounding tube and its interior structure, the latter being either linear filaments or a scaffold with longitudinal pores. The selected material will determine not only the biochemical interaction between cells and graft but also the physical properties of the implant. 

Cell studies on scaffolds of nano- and submicrometer-scaled fibers have shown that these dimensions promote not only cell adhesion, but also have beneficial effects on proliferation and differentiation of cells [174-177], These effects are more prominent with decreasing fiber diameters. It seems relevant that the cells can be guided and bridged by the artificial fibers. Meshes with aligned fibers are particularly promising, e.g., for guiding the growth of nerve cells (Fig. 8) [178],... 

Zhang, P, Zhang, C, Kou, Y et al. 2009. The histological analysis of biological conduit sleeve bridging rhesus monkey median nerve injiu-y with small gap. Artificial Cells, Blood Substitutes, and Biotechnol An7nt/37(2) 101-104. 

Wang X, Hu W, Cao Y et al (2005) Dog sciatic nerve regeneration across a 30-mm defect bridged by a chitosan/PGA artificial ntave graft. Brain 128 1897-1910... 

---