A 3-cm peripheral nerve gap in a rabbit hind-limb model was repaired by using a polyglycolic acid (PGA) conduit filled with a gelatin/Schwann-cell suspension. Postoperative nerve function after 16 weeks, as measured by isometric twitch and tetanic muscle strengths, and nerve conduction velocities, failed to demonstrate a statistically significant difference, compared to a control group in which the nerve gap was reconstructed by using a PGA conduit filled with gelatin only. The 3-cm gap in the described model may not have been long enough to show a significant difference between the two groups. Alternatively, the transferred cultured Schwann cells may have been functionally inactive.
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Brown et al. (1996) studied this question.