Table 2.

Small animal models in peripheral nerve surgery

	Defect size (cm)	Nerve	Animal	Implant	Time	Outcome	Quotation
Small animal models in nerve surgery without cell transplantation
1	4.0	Tibial nerve	Rat	Chondroitinase ABC processed nerve	3 M	Higher numbers of regenerated axons compared to control	Neubauer et al. [32]
2	6.0	Sciaitic nerve	Rat	Allograft vs. autograft	20 W	Superior regeneration in allograft group compared to control	Saheb-al-Zamani et al. [33]
3	3.0, 5.0, 7.0	Saphenous nerve	Rabbit	Autograft	15 M	Decreasing regeneration with increasing defects size	Koller et al. [34]
4	5.0	Sciatic nerve	Rabbit	Muscle grafts	4 M	Light regeneration in muscle grafts	Mligiliche et al. [35]
5	10.0	Sciatic nerve	Rabbit	Muscle grafts	2 M	No regeneration	Hems et al. [36]
Small animal models in nerve surgery with cell transplantation
6	4.0	Tibial nerve	Rabbit	Autologous vein with and without SC, Autograft as a control	2 M	Axonal regeneration in Isograft group and Vessel filled with Schwann cells	Zhang et al. [37]
7	1.0–6.0	Peroneal nerve	Rabbit	Vein	–	Regeneration on 3.0 cm. Poor outcome on long distances	Strauch et al. [39]
8	6.0	Peroneal nerve	Rabbit	Vein	4 M	Regeneration on full distance	Strauch et al. [38]
9	4.0	Ulnar nerve	Rat	ε-caprolactone-co-trimethylene carbonate filled with Schwann cells	12 M	No regeneration, extended formation of neuroma	Sinis et al. [40]

M month, W week