Artificial nerve graft compared to autograft in a rat model

A study was made to compare the regeneration of rat peroneal nerve across a 0.5 cm gap repaired with a sutured autograft (SAG) versus an artificial nerve graft (ANG). The ANG model is composed of a synthetic biodegradable passive conduit made of polyglycolic acid (PGA) and a synthetic growth medium composed of hypoallergenic collagen. Axonal regeneration in short-term animals (1 and 4 months) was evaluated by qualitative histology only, while in long-term animals (17 to 21 months) quantitative histology and electro-physiology were used in addition to qualitative histology. This study reveals that axons do regenerate through this ANG model, but electrophysiological analyses show that the axonal regeneration is statistically inferior to that in the SAG. There was no significant statistical difference in the quantitative histological data.