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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Aug 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Biomed Mater Res A. 2013 Sep 30;102(8):2793–2804. doi: 10.1002/jbm.a.34952

FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 1

Schematic illustration of an elastic, porous, and longitudinally aligned multichanneled crosslinked urethane-doped polyester (CUPE) tissue engineered nerve guide for attaching the proximal and distal ends of severed peripheral nerves via sutures and guide fabrication process. A titanium shim is first microengineered using computer-automated design (A) followed by the insertion of acupuncture needles through two titanium shims (B). Next, a pre-CUPE and NaCl mixture is cast in between the acupuncture needles (C) followed by dip coating the guide in pre-CUPE to form the non-porous outer sheath (D). The entire construct is then post-polymerized under various conditions (E) followed by NaCl porogen removal in deionized water (F). Representative CUPE nerve guide cross-section indicating channel diameters, porous, and non-porous regions (G).