Repair of sciatic nerve defects using tissue engineered nerves*

In this study, we constructed tissue-engineered nerves with acel ular nerve al ografts in Sprague-Dawley rats, which were prepared using chemical detergents-enzymatic digestion and mechanical methods, in combination with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cel s of Wistar rats cultured in vitro, to repair 15 mm sciatic bone defects in Wistar rats. At postoperative 12 weeks, electrophysiological detection results showed that the conduction velocity of regenerated nerve after repair with tis-sue-engineered nerves was similar to that after autologous nerve grafting, and was higher than that after repair with acel ular nerve al ografts. Immunohistochemical staining revealed that motor endplates with acetylcholinesterase-positive nerve fibers were orderly arranged in the middle and superior parts of the gastrocnemius muscle;regenerated nerve tracts and sprouted branches were connected with motor endplates, as shown by acetylcholinesterase histochemistry combined with silver staining. The wet weight ratio of the tibialis anterior muscle at the affected contralateral hind limb was similar to the sciatic nerve after repair with autologous nerve grafts, and higher than that after repair with acel ular nerve al ografts. The hind limb motor function at the affected side was significantly improved, indicating that acel ular nerve al ografts combined with bone marrow me-senchymal stem cel bridging could promote functional recovery of rats with sciatic nerve defects.