Using a deacetyl chitin conduit and short-term electrical stimulation for PNI

Previous studies have demonstrated that deacetyl chitin conduit nerve bridging or electrical stimulation shows therapeutic effect on peripheral nerve injury (PNI).

Dr. Peixun Zhang, Peking University People's Hospital, China and his team bridged the injured right rat sciatic nerve using a deacetyl chitin conduit combined with electrical stimulation (0.1 ms, 3 V, 20 Hz, for 1 hour). At 6 and 12 weeks after treatment, nerve conduction velocity, myelinated axon number, fiber diameter, axon diameter and the thickness of the myelin sheath in the stimulation group were better than in the non-stimulation group. The results indicate that deacetyl chitin conduit bridging combined with temporary electrical stimulation better promotes peripheral nerve repair compared with conduit bridging alone.

Related results were published in Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 9, No. 10, 2014).

More information:
Zhang ZL, Li X, Zuo SJ, Xin J, Zhang PX. Bridging peripheral nerves using a deacetyl chitin conduit combined with short-term electrical stimulation. Neural Regen Res. 2014;9(10):1075-1078.

Provided by Neural Regeneration Research