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Anisotropic Scaffolds For Peripheral Nerve And Spinal Cord Regeneration, Wen Xue, Wen Shi, Yunfan Kong, Mitchell Kuss, Bin Duan

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

The treatment of long-gap (>10 mm) peripheral nerve injury (PNI) and spinal cord injury (SCI) remains a continuous challenge due to limited native tissue regeneration capabilities. The current clinical strategy of using autografts for PNI suffers from a source shortage, while the pharmacological treatment for SCI presents dissatisfactory results. Tissue engineering, as an alternative, is a promising approach for regenerating peripheral nerves and spinal cords. Through providing a beneficial environment, a scaffold is the primary element in tissue engineering. In particular, scaffolds with anisotropic structures resembling the native extracellular matrix (ECM) can effectively guide neural outgrowth and reconnection. In …