Polymeric Scaffolds in Neural Tissue Engineering: A Review

The nervous system is the most important system of the body and damaging this system could be lethal for humans. Restoring the function of a damaged nervous system has always been a challenge due to the complexity of this system and its limited ability of regeneration. Furthermore, several obstacles exist in the repair process of the nervous system. In the central nervous system (CNS) limited clearance of myelin and formation of inhibitory glial scars make regeneration difficult. There is no effective clinical treatment for damages in the CNS while current treatments focus on stabilization and prevention of further damage and consequently on rehabilitation and preparation of prosthetics and mechanical aids. In peripheral nervous system (PNS) damages, the management may be a nerve autograft or allograft while shortage of donors for nerves makes the situation difficult. Size inequality between the donor nerve and the recipient, danger of neuroma formation and occurrence of infectious diseases are other problems associated with PNS, while indeed complete recovery of function is still not common. Several studies have illustrated that implying tissue engineering strategies for neural repair may lead to considerable improvements in damaged nervous tissues. The development of a scaffold that is similar to the natural extracellular matrix can provide an ideal environment for three dimensional cell cultures, which is a reason for neural tissue engineering success. The need to develop biocompatible and biodegradable material that supports neural tissue growth still exists. This article reviews different types of polymeric materials used in neural tissue engineering and mainly focuses on their properties and their advantages and disadvantages in neural regeneration.