Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) containing various growth factors can promote nerve regeneration.

An inside-out vein graft can substitute nerve autograft to repair short nerve defects.

It is hypothesized that an inside-out vein graft filled with platelet-rich plasma shows better effects in the repair of short sciatic nerve defects.

In a study reported in Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 9, No. 14, 2014), an inside-out vein autograft filled with platelet-rich plasma was used to bridge a 10 mm-long sciatic nerve defect in rats.

At 6 and 8 weeks, the sciatic nerve function of rats with an inside-out vein autograft filled with platelet-rich plasma was better than that of rats undergoing nerve autografting.

Compared with the sciatic nerve repaired with a simple inside-out vein autograft, the number of myelinated axons was higher, axon diameter and myelin sheath were greater in the sciatic nerve repaired with an inside-out vein autograft filled with platelet-rich plasma and they were similar to those in the sciatic nerve repaired with nerve autograft.

These findings suggest that an inside-out vein graft filled with platelet-rich plasma can substitute nerve autograft to repair short sciatic nerve defects.

Article: "An inside-out vein graft filled with platelet-rich plasma for repair of a short sciatic nerve defect in rats " by Ji Yeong Kim1, Woo Joo Jeon2, Dong Hwee Kim3, Im Joo Rhyu4, Young Hwan Kim2, Inchan Youn5, Jong Woong Park2 (1 Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Seoul Paik Hospital, Inje University, Seoul, Korea; 2 Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Korea University, Seoul, Korea; 3 Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Korea University, Seoul, Korea; 4 Department of Anatomy, Korea University, Seoul, Korea;5 Biomedical Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, Korea)

Kim JY, Jeon WJ, Kim DH, Rhyu IJ, Kim YH, Youn I, Park JW. An inside-out vein graft filled with platelet-rich plasma for repair of a short sciatic nerve defect in rats. Neural Regen Res. 2014;9(14):1351-1357.