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Peripheral Nerve Regeneration Within Tubular Prosthesis: Effects Of Laminin And Collagen Matrices On Cellular Ingrowth, Ivar J. Kljavin, Roger D. Madison

Cells and Materials

Bridging a severed peripheral nerve with a tubular conduit, "entubulation repair" , allows manipulation of the microenvironment encountered by regenerating axons. In the present study, we placed the ends of severed mouse sciatic nerves into nonpermeable Tygon tubes to bridge a 4 mm nerve gap. The tube lumen was filled with either a collagen or laminin matrix. The matrices formed a stable 3-D structure connecting both proximal and distal stumps, and provided a scaffolding for the regenerating axons and their supporting cells. We examined with scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and light microscopy, the initial events of …