Abstract

Regeneration of peripheral nerve defects remained a remarkable clinical challenge. Engineered nerve conduits represent a promising strategy to improve functional recovery in peripheral nerve injury repair. However, nerve conduits require additional factors such as neurotrophic factors to create a more conducive microenvironment for nerve regeneration. Neurotrophic factors have well-demonstrated abilities to improve neurite outgrowth, making them great candidates for repairing of defected nerves. To this end, we examined the beneficial effects of repairing the transected rat sciatic nerve by loading of nerve growth factor (NGF) in nerve conduits. The PCL/Collagen/NBG conduits were interposed into the 10mm right sciatic nerve defects. Twenty-four rats were randomly allocated into four groups: 1- nerve autograft group, 2- a nongrafted group with gap 10-mm, 3- conduit group and 4- the conduits loaded with NGF. Motor and sensory functional recovery, the evoked muscle action potential, and motor distal latency showed significant improvement in rats treated with NGF. The histology and immunohistochemistry studies revealed less fibrosis and a high level of expression of CD31 and NF-200 protein at the crush site in the Conduit+NGF group. In conclusion, the PCL/Collagen/NBG conduit loaded with NGF, which exhibited nanometer-scale features, neurotrophic activity, favorable mechanical properties and biocompatibility could improve sciatic nerve regeneration in rats.