Functional Recovery of Axonal Injury Induced by Gelatin-Hydrogel Film and PRP: An Initial Study in Rats

Abstract

In today’s society, axonal regeneration is considered very important because of high incidence of nerve injuries. The injury may cause vast damage of extracellular matrix leading to the condition wherein cell lost their environment to live. In this situation, new strategies by the introduction of scaffold to function as synthetic extracellular matrix are needed. In the field of tissue engineering, a large variety of carriers and matrices have been utilized as a scaffold to direct axonal growth. In this study, a new strategy by the combined application of gelatin hydrogel film and Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) to induce functional recovery of sciatic nerve crushed injury was investigated in Wistar rat model. Assessment of motorist and sensory functions were done to evaluate the recovery processes. It was found that the application of gelatin hydrogel film with controlled release manner combined with PRP results faster axonal regeneration. Further research by different injury model and other investigation factors are needed to confirm the effectiveness of the strategy.