Tissue-engineered grafts exploit axon-facilitated axon regeneration and pathway protection to enable recovery after 5-cm nerve defects in pigs.
Sci Adv
; 8(44): eabm3291, 2022 Nov 04.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36332027
ABSTRACT
Functional restoration following major peripheral nerve injury (PNI) is challenging, given slow axon growth rates and eventual regenerative pathway degradation in the absence of axons. We are developing tissue-engineered nerve grafts (TENGs) to simultaneously "bridge" missing nerve segments and "babysit" regenerative capacity by providing living axons to guide host axons and maintain the distal pathway. TENGs were biofabricated using porcine neurons and "stretch-grown" axon tracts. TENG neurons survived and elicited axon-facilitated axon regeneration to accelerate regrowth across both short (1 cm) and long (5 cm) segmental nerve defects in pigs. TENG axons also closely interacted with host Schwann cells to maintain proregenerative capacity. TENGs drove regeneration across 5-cm defects in both motor and mixed motor-sensory nerves, resulting in dense axon regeneration and electrophysiological recovery at levels similar to autograft repairs. This approach of accelerating axon regeneration while maintaining the pathway for long-distance regeneration may achieve recovery after currently unrepairable PNIs.
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Sci Adv
Año:
2022
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Estados Unidos