Rat sciatic nerve regeneration through type I collagen-derivedartificial tubular implants

Objective: To investigate the efficacy of a type I collagen-derived artificial tubular implant on sciatic nerve regeneration. Materials and Methods: Sprague-Dawley rat sciatic nerve injury model was built by cutting a 5.0 mm defect on the sciatic nerve of the right thigh. Rats with sciatic nerve injury were treated with type I collagen-derived artificial tubular implants (Group A), autologous common carotid artery implants (Group B), or autologous sciatic nerve implants (Group C). Two control groups were also included: Group D (mock injury group: same surgery was performed on the rats without generation of nerve injury) and Group E (normal rats without surgery). After treatment, all rats were monitored for change in claw reflection, nerve conduction velocity, evoked potential, latency and histological assessment on week 2, 4, 8 and 12. Results: Comparing to Group B, Group A showed faster claw reflection recovery as well as higher nerve conduction velocity and volatility and shorter latency time. Also, histological assessment also revealed that Group A demonstrated less gastrocnemius wet weight loss than Group B. However, Group C was better than Group A in all the above assessments. Conclusion: Type I collagen-derived artificial tubular implantation is a feasible way for sciatic nerve regeneration, but its efficacy is still not as good as autologous nerve implantation.