Femke Mathot

Chapter 6 104 Although not part of the current study, the presented concept of seeding either differentiated or undifferentiated MSCs on the surface of decellularized nerve allografts is hypothesized to be clinically applicable. Off the shelve nerve allografts are already clinically available and potentially can be seeded with autologous MSCs, which are easily obtainable from the patient with peripheral nerve injury. If the hypothesized improved vascularity and functional outcome outweigh the extra delay in nerve repair that is necessary for cell-culture (1.5 week) has yet to be determined. This study demonstrated that the vascularization of nerve grafts can be quantified and that both undifferentiated and differentiated MSCs enhance revascularization of processed nerve allografts. CONCLUSION The degree of vascularization of the processed/decellularized allograft nerves were improved by the addition of undifferentiated and differentiated MSCs, of which only the effect of differentiated MSCs was statistically significant. Revascularization of processed/decellularized allograft nerves with or without MSC was mainly via centripetal revascularization compared to revascularization in autograft nerves, which occurred via inosculation.