ABSTRACT
The present study describes the repair of a 10 mm rat sciatic nerve defect by a tubular collagen conduit. This technique was used in a group of 19 animals and was compared with the standard nerve graft reconstruction in another group of 11 rats. At 100 days after surgery the regenerated nerve was evaluated by macroscopic examination, electromyography and histology. Macroscopic examination of the collagen tube reconstructed nerve shows good regeneration in 9 cases and no regenerated nerve in two cases; electromyography examination indicates comparable levels of motor muscle innervations between the animals with collagen tube and nerve graft repair, with higher conduction capacity through the fibers regenerated in the collagen tube. Histological examination shows nerve regeneration through the collagen conduits, with epi and perineural-like tissue proliferation. The present study concluded that collagen tube produced similar nerve regeneration compared to standard nerve graft when used for the repair of a 10 mm peripheral nerve defect in the rat.