Yoshihisa Suzuki
Kitano Hospital, Japan
Title: Branched nerve regeneration using non-tubular artificial nerve sheets
Biography
Biography: Yoshihisa Suzuki
Abstract
Tubular artificial nerves are used to bridge the damaged peripheral nerves when end-to-end anastomosis is not possible. However, there are several limitations, including the need for a device of various diameters depending on the diameter of the nerve to be regenerated, and the inapplicability of the device to the damaged sites that are branched into a Y-shape. In order to overcome these limitations, we developed artificial nerve sheets made of alginate. Since they are sheets, they can be used with nerves of various diameters and with complex branches. Thus, we evaluated the use of the artificial nerve sheets in nerve regeneration. These sheets were created by covalent cross-linking of alginate, a polysaccharide derived from brown seaweed. First, we implanted the alginate sheet to bridge a 5-cm gap in the sciatic nerve of a cat and demonstrated nerve regeneration. In a clinical trial, we demonstrated that the sheets regenerated the human digital nerve. We then used the sheets to regenerate gaps in branched sites, which was not possible with the previous tubular artificial nerves. In this study, we used a rat model to create a nerve defect in the site where the sciatic nerve branched into the peroneal and tibial nerves. In this model, the alginate sponge-like sheets were implanted to bridge the nerve gap and led to nerve regeneration. Furthermore, we used a rat model of defects in the pelvic nerve plexus and cavernous plexus to evaluate the use of the sheets in defects in the nerve plexus where nerves form a network. In this experiment, we demonstrated that the implantation of the sheets improved urinary and erectile function of the rats. This finding suggested that the sheets may be used to prevent urinary dysfunction in patients undergoing uterine cancer surgery and erectile dysfunction in patients undergoing prostate cancer surgery