FIG. 8.

Early differences in nerve repair between conduit materials. (A) and (B) show representative images of longitudinal sections of the acellular fibrin matrix within conduits at 2 weeks after implantation. (A) The natural matrix found in E10-0.5(1K) conduits. (B) The matrix present in NP-PE conduits. The polymers comprising the natural fibrin matrix in the E10-0.5(1K) had a predominant longitudinal orientation (black arrow in A), whereas no fibrin strands were observed in NP-PE conduits. White arrows mark edges of the inner lumen within each conduit type. Scale bar: 0.5 mm. (C) Representative western blot analysis of S100β and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) collected from nonporous E10-0.5(1K) and NP-PE conduit exudates 1 week after implantation. Values to the right of bands indicate relative optical densities of bands (NP-E10-0.5(1K)/NP-PE). Color images available online at www.liebertpub.com/tea