Artificial nerve graft for the repair of peripheral nerve injuries

When a nerve fiber is damaged, the axon and myelin distal to the lesion degenerate. If the neuron survives, it shifts from a "transmitter" state to a "regenerative" state and the axon can regrow from the proximal stump. The nerve regeneration depends on the presence of an adequate substrate of tropic and trophic factors in the local environment of the lesion and is more difficult when the lesion originates a loss of continuity in the nerve. When the length of the gap is too long to allow apposition and suture without tension, nerve grafts are usually employed. The development of an artificial nerve graft would solve the secondary problems occurring with autografts. In this work we describe our effort by means of combined research in new materials for nerve guides, in extracellular matrix components and in glial cell transplantation, to develop an artificial nerve graft allowing axonal regeneration across long gaps. © Springer-Verlag 2001.