Nerve tissue regeneration

Yoon H et al (2010) Fabricating highly aligned electrospun poly(epsilon-caprolactone) micro/nanoflbers for nerve tissue regeneration. Polymer-Korea 34(3) 185—190... 

Nanofibers [75] Suture Guided bone regeneration Scaffold for nerve tissue regeneration ... 

Although the epidermis regenerates readily over an intact or partly intact dermal bed, it is well-known that de novo synthesis of the dermis does not occur spontaneously [65, 66], Likewise, even though the rat sciatic nerve is regenerated spontaneously across a 5-mm gap or occasionally across a 10-mm gap (provided that the cut ends of the nerve are inserted in a saline-filled rubber tube), no such regeneration is spontaneously observed across a 15-mm gap [67,68]. The appropriate use of collagen-GAG matrices leads to synthesis both of skin, complete with dermis and epidermis [79, 80, 84] and of new sciatic nerve [83]. It is this ability to induce de novo synthesis of nearly physiological tissue... 

Sicard RE (2002) Differential inflammatory and immunological responses in tissue regeneration and repair. Ann N Y Acad Sci 961 368-71 Southard JH, Belzer FO (1995) Organ preservation. Annu Rev Med 46 235-247 Stracher A (1999) Calpain inhibitors as therapeutic agents in nerve and muscle degeneration. Ann N Y Acad Sci 884 52-9... 

Veronese and coworkers in Italy used polymers with ethyl alanate side groups for the controlled release of anti-inflammatory agents, and for tissue regeneration in the treatment of periodontal disease. The same polymers have also been utilized in bioerodible nerve guide conduits for nerve regeneration.219... 

Peripheral nerve block is created by injecting ethanol around the selected nerve. The effect of alcohol on nerve tissue has been examined in animal models and in postmortem specimens from patients who received neurolytic blocks (8,9). In general, alcohol causes destruction of nerve fibers, with subsequent Wallerian degeneration. The basal lamina around the Schwann cell usually remains intact. This leaves a tract available for axon regeneration without the formation of a neuroma. If the cell bodies are completely destroyed, regeneration will not occur. Contact of alcohol with unintended nerve roots underlies many of the more serious complications. Involvement of anterior rootlets sufficient to interrupt motor nerve function will result in muscle weakness or paralysis. Interruption of... 

This review provides an introduction to the different methods utilized for the fabrication of nanostructures, the different kinds of nanotopographies, and the major stem cell types studied in the field of tissue regeneration. Emphasis is given to the attachment and differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), embryonic stem cells (ESCs), and adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) on biomimetic nanomaterials for advancing the field of bone, cartilage, cardiac, nerve, and skin tissue regeneration. 

Some gangliosides promote the growth of neural tissue in cell culture, suggesting they might be used to promote regeneration of nerve tissue after spinal cord injury. 

It is not necessarily the case that factors found to be active in vitro will be found to be active in vivo. Even in vivo, silastic chambers, nerve guidance channels and the like do not quite replicate the specific environment that regenerating axons must traverse in nerves. Tissue culture and nerve guidance channels are informative and valuable research tools, but one would particularly like to find those procedures that can enhance axon growth within its normal environment, the nerve. The current state of the art does not yet permit perfect artificial replication of the myriad of positive and negative influences in nerves that may influence the response to test neutrotrophic substances. 

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