The efficacious repair of severe peripheral nerve injuries is currently an unmet clinical need, and biomaterial constructs offer a promising approach to help promote nerve regeneration. Current research focuses on the development of more sophisticated constructs with complex architecture and the addition of regenerative agents to encourage timely reinnervation and promote functional recovery. This review surveyed the present landscape of nerve repair construct literature with a focus on six selected materials that are frequently encountered in this application: the natural proteins collagen, chitosan, and silk, and the synthetic polymers poly-ε-caprolactone (PCL), poly-lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) and poly-glycolic acid (PGA). This review also investigated the use of cell therapy in nerve repair constructs, and in all instances concentrated on publications reporting constructs developed and tested in vivo in the last five years (2015–2020). Across the selected literature, the popularity of natural proteins and synthetic polymers appears to be broadly equivalent, with a similar number of studies reporting successful outcomes in vivo. Both material types are also utilised as vehicles for cell therapy, which has much potential to improve the results of nerve bridging for treating longer gaps.

严重周围神经损伤的有效修复是目前尚未满足的临床需求，生物材料结构提供了一种有前途的方法来帮助促进神经再生。目前的研究重点是开发具有复杂结构的更复杂的结构，并添加再生剂以鼓励及时神经再支配和促进功能恢复。本综述调查了神经修复结构文献的现状，重点关注该应用中经常遇到的六种选定材料：天然蛋白质胶原蛋白、壳聚糖和丝绸，以及合成聚合物聚 ε-己内酯 (PCL)、聚-lactic-合作-乙醇酸 (PLGA) 和聚乙醇酸 (PGA)。本综述还研究了细胞疗法在神经修复结构中的应用，并且在所有情况下都集中在报告过去五年（2015-2020 年）体内开发和测试的结构的出版物上。在选定的文献中，天然蛋白质和合成聚合物的受欢迎程度似乎大致相同，报告体内成功结果的研究数量相似。这两种材料类型也被用作细胞治疗的载体，这在改善神经桥接治疗较长间隙的结果方面具有很大潜力。