Acceleration of Regeneration of Large-Gap Peripheral Nerve Injuries Using Acellular Nerve Allografts Plus Amniotic Fluid Derived Stem Cells (AFS)

Major accomplishments this year include successful seeding of AFS into ANA. This accomplishment also documented that these cells remained viable up to 72 hours after seeding. The seeded constructs were used to repair critical-sized, large gap nerve injury in rats and their functional recovery was monitored longitudinally using digital video gait analysis as well as electrophysiologic and histologic outcomes. The data analysis is not complete, but preliminary data indicate that this AFS seeded ANA used for nerve repair results in an improved functional outcome for the rats compared to a nerve autograft, the current gold standard for tension-free repair of transected peripheral nerves. The coming year will utilize these techniques for repairing large-gap (6 cm) nerve injuries in non-human primates. These represent a more translational model of peripheral nerve injury and repair.