Schwann cells play a critical role in peripheral nerve regeneration. When a non-nervous conduit is used to bridge a nerve defect, the conduit is soon colonized by a number of Schwann cells that make a pathway for regrowing axons. By using electron microscopy, immunohistochemistry, and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction analysis, we have investigated the behavior of migratory glial cells along a particular type of autologous tissue-engineered conduit made of a vein filled with fresh skeletal muscle, using the rat sciatic nerve model. With this particular type of autograft, our data show that many Schwann cells soon take up a close relationship with grafted muscle fibers, and especially with their basal lamina, which appears to serve as a migration pathway for them. The early and massive colonization of the conduit is sustained by both Schwann cell migration and proliferation, as demonstrated by PCNA immunostaining. Later, as they meet regenerating axons, Schwann cells become closely associated with them and eventually lose their connections with grafted muscle fibers because of the formation of perineurial envelopes. Because previous studies showed that alpha(2a-2b) NRG1 is overexpressed at early stages along the muscle-vein combined tubes, we have also investigated mRNA expression of its two receptors, erbB2 and erbB3. Both messengers are overexpressed, although with different time courses. Overall, our results provide some morphological and biochemical bases for explaining the effectiveness of fresh muscle-vein combined nerve guides and throw an interesting light on the possible role of alpha(2a-2b) NRG1 through the erbB2/erbB3 heterodimer receptor for nerve regeneration inside non-nervous conduits.
(c) 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.