Table 1.

Experimental details of recent studies on biodegradable bridging conduits to repair injured rat sciatic nerves.

reference	cuff materials	gap (mm)	myelinated axons	findings
[41]	genipin cross-linked gelatin (GGT) annexed with β-tricalcium phosphate ceramic particles	10	six weeks, midpoint 2523 ± 286	newly formed nerve fibres in the GGT conduits exceed that of the silicone tubes (1195 ± 183) during the implantation period
[17]	chitosan	10	12 weeks, midpoint 15 300 (axon mm−2)	chitosan is a potential material to nerve grafting
[2]	polylactic acid (PLA)	10	eight weeks, midpoint mostly unmyelinated axons	multi-layer microbraided PLA fibre-reinforced conduits provide a promising tool for neuroregeneration
[30]	porous genipin cross-linked gelatine (PGGC)	10	eight weeks, midpoint 4000	PGGCs can not only offer effective aids for regenerating nerves but also accelerate favourable nerve-functional recovery when compared with non-porous genipin cross-linked gelatine conduits
[42]	chitosan–polylactic acid (PLA)	10	12 weeks, distal 6275 ± 2000	axonal quantity of chitosan–PLA tubes are higher than silicone rubber tubes (2648 ± 685)
[43]	proanthocyanidin (PA) cross-linked gelatine	10	eight weeks, midpoint mostly unmyelinated axons	the peak amplitude, area under the MAP curve, and the histological observations of regenerated nerves all increase with the recovery period
[7]	polyglycolic acid (PGA)	10	15 weeks, distal 189 ± 55 (axon/100 × 100 µm2)	type I collagen conduit is a reliable alternative to nerve grafting for gaps up to 10 mm in length
	type I collagen	10	15 weeks, distal 381 ± 73 (axon/100 × 100 µm2)
[22]	genipin cross-linked gelatin	10	eight weeks, midpoint mostly unmyelinated axons (n = 10)	histological observations show that numerous regenerated nerve fibres, mostly unmyelinated and surrounded by Schwann cells, cross through and beyond the gap region six weeks after operation