Abstract: Objective To observe the effect of the chitosan tube combined with basic fibroblast growth factor(bFGF) on inducing nerve axon regeneration of rats with peripherial nerve injury.MethodsA novel chitosan tube combined with bFGF was developed and used to suture the 10 milimeter long right sciatic nerve gap of 10 rats,single injury group(10 rats) were the control with sciatic nerve injury alone,and other 10 rats were assigned to sham group.Immunohistochemistry and electrophysiology study had been done to observe the effect of repairing.Results3 months after operations,the sciatic nerve gap were repaired by the regeneration nerve in the experiment group.And there was no evident inflammation in the defects.ConclusionThe chitosan tube combined with bFGF can induce the sciatic nerve to regenerate.

Key words: chitosan tube, basic fibroblast growth factor(bFGF), sciatic nerve, nerve regeneration, rat