Samenvatting

Peripheral nerve injuries (PNIs) are both prevalent throughout society and challenging to treat, especially when the injury is large
(> 5mm). When treated unsuccessfully, PNIs often result in significantly diminished quality of life, providing strong motivation for finding reliable treatment procedures. Currently, the preferred method of treatment (autografts) struggles to bridge larger severed nerves gap and is associated with numerous limitations, such as immunological rejection.
In this review, we explore an alternative approach that makes use of neural guidance conduits (NGCs), which emulate the natural environment of developing peripheral nerves and serve as a supportive structure for regeneration. As peripheral nerve cells interact strongly with their immediate surroundings (i.e., their extracellular matrix (ECM)) throughout growth, providing such a support can, in principle, enable directionally selective nerve regrowth. Specifically, we review the growth and regeneration of the PNS and contextualize how different ECM moleculesinfluence nerve growth in the PNS. Select NGC designs are discussed, with emphasis placed on how design criteria affect the regenerative process. Though they have not yet become the de facto treatment
approach for PNI treatment, the elegance and flexibility offered by NGCs suggest that they will play a crucial role in tissue-engineering-based repairs in the near future.