Author(s)

Cuilian Li

Corresponding Author

Cuilian Li

ABSTRACT

Trauma-related peripheral nerve injury is a widespread clinical issue that needs to be solved urgently. The complexity of peripheral nerve repair is determined by numerous factors, including a variety of challenging biological repair mechanisms existing in the peripheral nervous system. Autologous peripheral nerve tissue transplantation remains the best clinical treatment for peripheral nerve injury, although there are numerous limitations. In some cases, artificial nerve conduits (NCs) could be a helpful instrumental in the damage repair of peripheral nerve. Recent research results showed that tissue-engineered nerve was adequate essential in repairing peripheral nerve damage, even could overcome some of the limitations of autograft and meet the clinical requirements of long gap nerve repair. Typical components of nerve scaffolds are usually composed of synthetic polymers (e.g., silicone, polyglycolic acid) and natural materials (e.g., chitosan, silk fibroin) alone or a mixture of several. At the same time, diverse manufacturing methods can be used in tissue-engineered NCs, including spinning mandrel technology, sheet rolling, injection-molding, freeze-drying, and electro-spinning. NCs made by tissue engineering methods have attracted widespread attention, and more and more research has focused on the role of silk as a scaffold material in peripheral nerve repair. This review explores the scientific advances in silk-based catheters for peripheral nerve repair.

KEYWORDS

Silk-based nerve guide catheter, peripheral nerve repair, wound