Biomaterials and strategies for nerve regeneration

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Artif Organs. 2006 Jul;30(7):514-22.

Biomaterials and strategies for nerve regeneration.

Huang YC, Huang YY.

Institute of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, College

of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.

Nerve regeneration is a complex biological phenomenon. Once the

nervous system is impaired, its recovery is difficult and

malfunctions in other parts of the body may occur because mature

neurons do not undergo cell division. To increase the prospects of

axonal regeneration and functional recovery, researches have focused

on designing " nerve guidance channels " or " nerve conduits. "

When developing ideal tissue-engineered nerve conduits, several

components come to mind. They include a biodegradable and porous

channel wall, the ability to deliver bioactive growth factors,

incorporation of support cells, an internal oriented matrix to

support cell migration, intraluminal channels to mimic the structure

of nerve fascicles, and electrical activities. This article reviews

the factors that are critical for nerve repair, and the advanced

technologies that are explored to fabricate nerve conduits.

To more accurately mimic natural repair in the body, recent studies

have focused on the use of various advanced approaches to create

ideal nerve conduits that combine multiple stimuli in an effort to

better mimic the complex signals normally found in the body.