Acellular allogeneic nerve grafting combined with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell transplantation for the repair of long-segment sciatic nerve defects: biomechanics and validation of mathematical models

Abstract

We hypothesized that a chemically extracted acellular allogeneic nerve graft used in combination with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell transplantation would be an effective treatment for long-segment sciatic nerve defects. To test this, we established rabbit models of 30 mm sciatic nerve defects, and treated them using either an autograft or a chemically decellularized allogeneic nerve graft with or without simultaneous transplantation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells. We compared the tensile properties, electrophysiological function and morphology of the damaged nerve in each group. Sciatic nerves repaired by the allogeneic nerve graft combined with stem cell transplantation showed better recovery than those repaired by the acellular allogeneic nerve graft alone, and produced similar results to those observed with the autograft. These findings confirm that a chemically extracted acellular allogeneic nerve graft combined with transplantation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells is an effective method of repairing long-segment sciatic nerve defects.

Keywords

• nerve regeneration; chemically extracted acellular allogeneic nerve graft; autograft; bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells; sciatic nerve defects; biomechanics; electrophysiology; morphology; neural regeneration