BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH NEWS, AND ARTICLES
The effect of oriented collagen tube (OCT) implantation on the recovery of sensory function
The native collagen protein found in the human body has specific orientations in different tissues such as bone, cartilage, tendon and cornea. These orientations play a significant role in the function of human organs, thus the development of three-dimensionally oriented collagen scaffolds is expected to be extremely useful for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications.
A recent study in the Regenerative Therapy journal has examined the effect of oriented collagen tube (OCT) implantation on the recovery of sensory function of resected rat sciatic nerve. The study authors demonstrated that after 15 days, the sensory reflexes of the OCT group were restored to the level of those of the intact group, thus concluding that the use of oriented collagen tube implants can succeed in recovering sensory function in the damaged nerve.
According to Marianna Prokopi-Demetriades, a co-founder at Promed Bioscience, repairing damage in the nerve system and specifically the sensory neurons is quite challenging and is an area that will be receiving significant attention in the next few years.