For larger defects, autologous nerve grafts provide the only proven practical method of restoring nerve continuity. Nerve grafting essentially involves taking a donor nerve from another part of the patient's anatomy and using it to bridge the gap in the injured nerve.
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[[Autologous nerve graft]]ing remains a [[gold standard]] for bridging an extended gap in transected nerves. The formidable limitations related to this approach, however, have evoked the development of tissue-engineered nerve grafts as a promising alternative to autologous nerve grafts. A tissue-engineered nerve graft is typically constructed through a combination of a neural [[scaffold]] and a variety of cellular and molecular components. The initial and basic structure of the neural scaffold that serves to provide mechanical guidance and an optimal environment for [[nerve regeneration]] was a single hollow [[nerve guidance conduit]]. Later there have been several improvements to the basic structure, especially the introduction of physical fillers into the lumen of a hollow nerve guidance conduit. Up to now, a diverse array of [[biomaterial]]s, either of natural or of synthetic origin, together with well-defined fabrication techniques, has been employed to prepare neural [[scaffold]]s with different structures and properties. Meanwhile different types of support cells and/or growth factors have been incorporated into the neural scaffold, producing unique biochemical effects on nerve regeneration and function restoration
((Gu X, Ding F, Yang Y, Liu J. Construction of [[tissue-engineered nerve graft]]s and their [[application]] in peripheral [[nerve regeneration]]. Prog Neurobiol. 2011 Feb;93(2):204-30. doi: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2010.11.002. Epub 2010 Dec 2. PMID: 21130136.)).