| Abstrakt: |
Purpose: Peripheral nerve allograft can be an acceptable alternative, but it has not yet become clinically useful because of immune response to foreign tissue. With significant advances in the research and tissue engineering, various alternatives to nerve autograft including synthetic nerve conduit and decellularization have been used, but their therapeutic effects were not satisfactory. The purpose of this study was to confirm the effectiveness of cryopreservation of the allograft nerve as a useful nerve-graft substitute. Methods: A total of 39 Sprague-Dawley rats (recipient) and 13 Lewis rats (donor) weighing 200 g to 300 g were used in this study. Animals were randomly divided 3 groups and received ipsilateral sciatic nerve graft: autograft (group 1), allograft (group 2), and cryopreserved nerve allograft (group 3), Nerve regeneration was evaluated at sixteen weeks on the basis of the animal weight, ankle contracture angle, compound muscle action potential, isometric tetanic muscle force, wet muscle weight of the tibialis anterior muscle, and the histomorphometry. Results: Cryopreserved nerve allograft (group 3) showed superior motor recovery than allograft group (group 2), which was comparable to those of autograft (group 1). Conclusion: Pretreatment of nerve allograft using cryopreservation decreased rejection caused by immune response of the donor and improved motor nerve recovery. In clinical perspective, use of a pretreated nerve allograft can be an alternative to the autograft. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
