Experimental Study On Using A Heterogeneous Biological Nerve Conduit To Repair Peripheral Nerve Defect

Speciality:Clinical Orthopedics of Integrated Chinese and WesternMedicine.Author:Xie HuibinTutor:Zhang YingObjectiveTo investigate feasibility of biological nerve conduit in using a biological nerve conduit to repair heterogeneous animal peripheral nerve defect.MethodsThe biological nerve conduit was made with animal tissues,it' s a kind of midheaven semipermeable membrane conduit.20 healthy adult goats were randomly divided into five groups(each group,4),which left common peroneal nerves were resected 2cm,4cm,6cm,8cm by operations.Make animal models with 2cm,4cm,6cm,8cm common peroneal nerve defect,then we use new xenograft nerve conduit to bridge the neurologic defect as the experimental group(group A,B,C,D),4cm Nerve autografting for the control group(group E).The left-behind legs of all goats were operated as experiment side,the right ones were contrast side.After operation, movement of hindlimb,hindlimb' s retraction after being pricked by needle and ulcer in claw' s palm were normally observed.Electrophysiologic analysis was performed six month after implantation of the nerve conduit.Histologic evaluation of regeneration was made after sacrificing the goats eight months after surgery,and compared the results between experimental groups and control group.ResultsNo marked difficulty in walking six months after implantation of the nerve conduit.Muscle atrophy were almostly recovered in group A,B,C, E,but not in group D. 1.general observationall goats appeared little action and swelling and distension with left-behind legs,limping,lethargy,little eating after one week after surgery,it recovered in three weeks.No wound infection in all goats, Removal of suture is performed 12 days after surgery.2.Electrophysiologic analysisElectrophysiologic analysis was performed six month after implantation of the nerve conduit.The regeneration nerve conduction velocity were showed better in group A and group B,but not good in group D.3.Histological observationUnder light microscope and electron microscope,we discovered that there were significance of nerve fiber diameter,thickness of myelin sheath,and fiber density in group A,B and E from those in group D. Furthermore,image analysis suggested the group A,B and E had the nerve regeneration better than group D in quantity of nerve fiber,thickness of myelin sheath,and nerve fiber diameter.And the nerve regeneration of 4cm biological Nerve Conduit was as good as that of nervous autograft group.Conclusion1.The biological nerve conduit can conduct goat' s common peroneal nerves defect effectively,and no obviously rejection reaction was appeared;We examined nerve regeneration across a 6cm long gap in the goat peroneal nerve,which can be considered as an ideal nerve conduit.2.The biological nerve conduit is good for repairing neurologic defect below 4cm,but it is ineffective in repairing the 8cm defect and longer than that.3.No obvious difference is found in curative effect of repairing 4cm peripheral nerve defect between the biological nerve conduit and nerve autografting.