Afirm Nerve Regeneration Project 1: Growth Factor Releasing Microspheres and the Effect on Peripheral Nerve Regeneration

摘要

The current gold standard for repair of a nerve injury is the interposition of an autologous nerve graft. This has several disadvantages, such as donor site morbidity, limited availability, size mismatch and painful neuroma formation. In addition, functional recovery rarely returns to pre- injury level. Therefore, the development and optimization of nerve conduits is an increasingly important focus in the field of peripheral nerve regeneration. One promising approach that may enhance nerve regeneration is the long term delivery of growth factors. However, accurate delivery and concentration maintenance of growth factors within the nerve conduit still pose problems. We therefore studied the long term release of nerve growth factor (NGF) using a microsphere delivery system. First, we evaluated the release of NGF from five different types of polymer microspheres both in vitro and in vivo. Next, we assessed the effect of both NGF and glial cellline derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) releasing microspheres on functional regeneration using polymer nerve conduits.