Regenerative Medicine: A New Horizon in Peripheral Nerve Injury and Repair

A peripheral nerve injury is a great burden for the patient and a challenge for the clinician. In a complete injury (axonotmesis or neurotmesis), the slow nature of nerve regeneration after repair or reconstruction hardly catches up to the target organ's degeneration rate, leading to a poor prognosis. The current advance in regenerative medicine has shown the potency of stem cells and their products for healing many human body structures, including the nerve. A comprehensive literature search was conducted using an internet-based search engine for current advances in regenerative medicine to augment peripheral nerve repair or reconstruction. Stem cells can differentiate into nerve cells and have paracrine and immunomodulatory effects. Its products, such as the secretome and exosome, have also been studied, and they have many benefits for the regeneration process. This novel treatment possesses significant potential to accelerate nerve healing after nerve reconstruction and potentially postpone the degenerative process in the target organ, allowing it to respond to the new signal once nerve regeneration is complete. The aim of this article is to summarized the application of stem cells and its products for nerve healing.