Figure 5. Regenerative bias correlates with axonal growth.

At the distal end of the nerve stump, the ratio of pro-healing macrophages (CD206+) to pro-inflammatory macrophages (CCR7+), i.e. regenerative bias, directly correlates to (predicts) the final regenerative outcome (axonal growth) with a linear relationship at three weeks post-injury time point. The fact that data from autograft and PAN-MA nano-fiber scaffolds also fit the regenerative bias/axonal growth correlation demonstrates that this model can be universally applied across other nerve regeneration approaches.