Evaluation of Extracellular Matrix-Based Nerve Conduits for Long-Gap Peripheral Nerve Repair in a Goat Model

Peripheral nerve injury is a common traumatic illness in clinic, and long-gap injury in particular has been difficult to repair. In this study, a new type of biological nerve conduits with tunable diameters and lengths were fabricated from extracellular matrices (ECM) derived from porcine small intestinal submucosa. A peroneal nerve defect model was established by removing the left common peroneal nerve of pre-defined lengths in goats. The biological conduits were sutured in and their functions to repair 2 cm, 4 cm, 6 cm and 8 cm nerve defects were investigated for a 12 month period. Electrophysiological, histological, and TEM examinations showed normal nerve conductive velocities and regeneration of myelinated nerve fibers in 2 cm and 4 cm defects grafted with ECM-based conduits. The effects of these biological conduits on the repair of 2 cm and 4 cm nerve defects were comparable to those of allograft nerves. The repair function of nerve conduits was found to decrease with the defect lengths. The ECM-based nerve conduits may possess advantageous bioactive properties to support nerve tissue regeneration and have potential for future clinical use in long-gap nerve injury repair.Cell & Tissue EngineeringSCI(E)0ARTICLE12,SI1063-1072