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Physical properties and biocompatibility of a porous chitosan-based fiber-reinforced conduit for nerve regeneration

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Abstract

Porous fiber-reinforced chitosan nerve conduits were fabricated from chitosan yarns and a chitosan solution by combining an industrial braiding method with a mold casting/lyophilization technique. The conduits were permeable to molecules ranging in molecular size from 180 Da (glucose) to 66,200 Da (BSA). The compressive load of the reinforced conduits was significantly higher than that of a non-reinforced control conduit at equal levels of strain. The tensile strength of the reinforced conduits was also increased from 0.41 ± 0.17 to 3.69 ± 0.64 MPa. An in vitro cytotoxicity test showed the conduits were not cytotoxic to Neuro-2a cells. Preliminary in vivo implantation testing indicated that the conduits were compatible with the surrounding tissue.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Mr. Bryan Brown for his helpful advice. This work was financially supported by National Basic Research Program of China (also called “973” Program, No. 2005CB623905), the Tsinghua-Yue-Yuen Medical Science Fund, Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission (No. H060920050430) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30670528).

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Correspondence to Xiufang Zhang.

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Aijun Wang and Qiang Ao contributed equally to this work.

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Wang, A., Ao, Q., Wei, Y. et al. Physical properties and biocompatibility of a porous chitosan-based fiber-reinforced conduit for nerve regeneration. Biotechnol Lett 29, 1697–1702 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-007-9460-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-007-9460-0

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