Recent advances in strategies for peripheral nerve tissue engineering

Peripheral nerve injuries often result in longstanding disability with loss of motor and/or sensory function. Peripheral nerve tissue engineering researchers have been exploring strategies to replace autologous nerve grafts, the gold standard treatment for peripheral nerve injury. Currently, there is still a large technological gap between laboratory research technologies and the products used in the clinic. There are also concerns about the use of rodent models and the reliability of the treatment outcomes. In this paper, we review the most recent approaches in peripheral nerve tissue engineering and methodologies in clinical trials, preclinical studies, and in vitro experiments and briefly discuss future perspectives of the field. We highlight the need for improved in vitro modeling, including nerve-on-a-chip technology and the use of computational modeling. Progress in this area can help to optimize combinatorial treatments and accelerate clinical translation. Furthermore, we see great potential in personalized tissue-engineered scaffolds, which could incorporate patient- and injury-specific anatomy, for complex lesions that are difficult to repair using currently available options.