Figure 1.
Personalized nerve regeneration pathways enabled by 3D scanning and printing. a) A tissue model of the nerve pathway to be constructed is prepared for subsequent imaging by either incision (in situ approach) or transection (ex situ approach). b) The intact or transected tissue is imaged using structured light scanning (SLS), which results in a high precision 3D model of the nerve pathway. c) The reverse engineered nerve pathway is 3D printed, to realize a device which mimics the original nerve in terms of geometry, physical cues, and path-specific biochemical cues in the form of gradient distributions.