Laser-Perforated Porous Nonwoven Chitosan Nerve Conduit

Abstract

Chitosan nonwoven mesh conduit was introduced with perforating pores on the wall by laser-drilling process. The pore size was set at 200 µm and the pore interval at 1mm. Twelve mm long grafts of following 4 groups (N=5, respectively) were implanted to rat sciatic nerve defects: non-pore, 2 lines of pores, 4 lines of pores and isograft. After 12 weeks standard nerve function evaluations were performed including functional test, electro conductivity test and histological analysis. It was found that revascularization of the conduit contents was improved with pores drilled, but accompanied nerve regenerative improvements were only shown as maturation of fasciculi, not with the general parameters of axon diameter and density.

Keywords

• nerve regeneration
• chitosan conduit
• laser perforating
• nano scaffold