Creating bioabsorbable Schwann cell coated conduits through tissue engineering

Enormous effort has been devoted to the generation of a synthetic guidance conduit for nerve repair instead of utilizing autograft. Several studies show neural guidance conduit is more effective when coated with Schwann cells. In this study, we synthesized bioabsorbable conduit consist of L-lactide and epsilon-caprolactone which was useful clinically and examined adhesion of Schwann cells to bioabsorbable conduits. In vivo studies were done in which these polymer conduits coated with Schwann cells were implanted across a 12 mm gap in the rat sciatic nerve. Silicone conduits were implanted across the same gap as control. At 12 weeks, axonal regeneration was observed in the midconduit region of these polymer conduits and was not in control. This study assesses the feasibility of a tissue engineering approach to constructing bioabsorbable conduits coated with Schwann cells.