Date of Award

26-3-2024

Document Type

Thesis

School

School of Chemical & Biotechnology

Programme

Ph.D.-Doctoral of Philosophy

First Advisor

Dr.S.Swaminathan

Keywords

Engineering, Engineering Biomedical, Peripheral Nerve Regeneration, 3D printing

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) printing is an emerging tool for creating patient-specific tissue constructs analogous to the native tissue microarchitecture. In this study, anatomically equivalent 3D nerve conduits were developed using thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) by combining reverse engineering and material extrusion (i.e., fused deposition modelling) technique.

Printing parameters were optimized to fabricate nerve-equivalent TPU constructs. The TPU constructs printed with different infill densities supported the adhesion, proliferation, and gene expression of neuronal cells. Subcutaneous implantation of the TPU constructs for three months in rats showed neovascularization with negligible local tissue inflammatory reactions and was classified as a non-irritant biomaterial as per ISO 10993-6. To perform in vivo efficacy studies, nerve conduits equivalent to rat’s sciatic nerve were fabricated and bridged in a 10 mm sciatic nerve transection model.

After four months of implantation, the sensorimotor function and histological assessments revealed that the 3D printed TPU conduits promoted the regeneration in critical-sized peripheral nerve defects equivalent to autografts. This study proved that TPU-based 3D printed nerve guidance conduits can be created to replicate the complicated features of native nerve tissue that can promote the regeneration of peripheral nerve defects and also show the potential to be extended to several other tissues for regenerative medicine applications.

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