Injuries to the peripheral nervous system are a common clinical issue, causing dysfunctions of the motor and sensory systems. Surgical interventions such as nerve autografting are necessary to repair damaged nerves. Even with autografting, i.e., the gold standard, malfunctioning and mismatches between the injured and donor nerves often lead to unwanted failure. Thus, there is an urgent need for a new intervention in clinical practice to achieve full functional recovery. Nerve guidance conduits (NGCs), providing physicochemical cues to guide neural regeneration, have great potential for the clinical regeneration of peripheral nerves. Typically, NGCs are tubular structures with various configurations to create a microenvironment that induces the oriented and accelerated growth of axons and promotes neuron cell migration and tissue maturation within the injured tissue. Once the native neural environment is better understood, ideal NGCs should maximally recapitulate those key physiological attributes for better neural regeneration. Indeed, NGC design has evolved from solely physical guidance to biochemical stimulation. NGC fabrication requires fundamental considerations of distinct nerve structures, the associated extracellular compositions (extracellular matrices, growth factors, and cytokines), cellular components, and advanced fabrication technologies that can mimic the structure and morphology of native extracellular matrices. Thus, this review mainly summarizes the recent advances in the state-of-the-art NGCs in terms of biomaterial innovations, structural design, and advanced fabrication technologies and provides an in-depth discussion of cellular responses (adhesion, spreading, and alignment) to such biomimetic cues for neural regeneration and repair.
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This content will become publicly available on June 1, 2025
4D Printed Nerve Conduit with In Situ Neurogenic Guidance for Nerve Regeneration
- Award ID(s):
- 2110842
- PAR ID:
- 10543136
- Publisher / Repository:
- Mary Ann Liebert
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Tissue Engineering Part A
- Volume:
- 30
- Issue:
- 11-12
- ISSN:
- 1937-3341
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 293-303
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- 4D printing in situ immobilization self-morphing microgroove nerve repair
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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