Nerve‐on‐a‐Chip Derived Biomimicking Microfibers for Peripheral Nerve Regeneration

Abstract

AbstractFibrous scaffolds have shown their advantages in tissue engineering, such as peripheral nerve regeneration, while most of the existing fiber‐shaped scaffolds are with simple structures, and the in vitro performance for nerve regeneration lacks systematic analysis. Here, novel nerve‐on‐a‐chip derived biomimicking microfibers for peripheral nerve regeneration are presented. The microfibers with controllable core–shell structures and functionalities are generated through capillary microfluidic devices. By integrating these microfibers into a multitrack‐architectured chip, and coculturing them with nerve cells as well as gradient bioactive elements, the nerve‐on‐a‐chip with the capabilities of systematically assessing the performances of nerve fiber formation in the hollow microfibers at in vitro level is constructed. Based on a rat sciatic nerve injury model, the rapid promotion ability is demonstrated of optimized microfibers in nerve regeneration and function recovery in vivo, which implies the credibility of the nerve‐on‐a‐chip on biomimicking microfibers evaluation for peripheral nerve regeneration. Thus, it is convinced that the organ‐on‐a‐chip will undoubtedly open up a new chapter in evaluating biological scaffolds for in vivo tissue engineering.