POROSITY OF THE WALL OF A NEUROLAC® NERVE CONDUIT HAMPERS NERVE REGENERATION

One way to improve nerve regeneration and bridge longer nerve gaps may be the use of semipermeable/porous conduits. With porosity less biomaterial is used for the nerve conduit. We evaluated the short-term effects of porous Neurolac (R) nerve conduits for in vivo peripheral nerve regeneration. In 10 male Black Hooded rats, a gap of 10 mm was bridged by a porous Neurolac (R) nerve conduit. Evaluation point ranged from 3 to 12 weeks. The sciatic nerve function was not measurable due to automutilation and flexion contractures. The gait-stance duration showed no improvement with time, indicating a disturbed walking pattern. The nerve guides showed very fast degradation with swelling, fragmentation, and collapse. Furthermore, a severe foreign body reaction occurred. Nerve regeneration was severely hampered. This study showed no beneficial effects of porous Neurolac (R) nerve conduits when compared with previous findings with nonporous copolymeric nerve guides of a slightly different composition. (C) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. Microsurgery 29:473-478, 2009.