Il10 and poly-dl-lactide--caprolactone conduits in critical size nerve defect bridging--An experimental study

Introduction Aim of this study is to evaluate if regeneration in repair of nerve defects can be improved by combination of a poly-dl-lactide--caprolactone conduit (PLC) with long-term release of anti-inflammatory Interleukin 10 (IL10), which is known to reduce intraneural scarring in nerve regeneration through its anti-inflammatoric properties. Method Experiments were performed at 30 female Lewis rats. Conduits filled with fibrin (PLC-group n=10) and fibrin loaded with IL10 (IL10-group n=10) were compared to autologs nerve grafts (NG-group n=10) in a 15 mm sciatic nerve gap lesion. Sciatic function index (SFI) and electrophysiological analyses were performed 16 weeks after surgery prior to histological evaluation. In histological analyses total nerve count, total nerve area, myelination index, and N-ratio were measured. Additionally, gastrocnemius muscle was weighed. Results SFI (NG-group:-50.68 ± 7.03%; PLC-group:-56.48 ± 2.30%; IL10-group:-56.54 ± 8.22%) and nerve conduction velocity (NG-group: 92.52 ± 4.64 m/s; PLC-group: 92.77 ± 5.07 m/s; IL10-group: 93.78 ±3.63 m/s) showed no significant differences after 16 weeks (P>0.05). Significant higher axon count (17.592 ± 483) were observed in the NG-group compared to PLC- (6.722 ± 553) and IL10-group (6.842 ± 681) (P