Establishment of a Magnetically Controlled Scalable Nerve Injury Model

• Published in: Advanced science Vol. 11; no. 41; pp. e2405265 - n/a
• Main Authors: Yang, Tuo, Liu, Xilin, Cao, Rangjuan, Zhou, Xiongyao, Li, Weizhen, Wu, Wenzheng, Yu, Wei, Zhang, Xianyu, Guo, Zhengxiao, Cui, Shusen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01-11-2024; John Wiley and Sons Inc; Wiley
• Subjects: animal model; Composite materials; Design; Injuries; magnetic control; Magnetic fields; Medical imaging; Nervous system; neuropathic pain; peripheral nerve injury (PNI); Simulation; neuropathic pain; magnetic control; peripheral nerve injury (PNI); animal model
• ISSN: 2198-3844; 2198-3844
• DOI: 10.1002/advs.202405265

Animal models of peripheral nerve injury (PNI) serve as the fundamental basis for the investigations of nerve injury, regeneration, and neuropathic pain. The injury properties of such models, including the intensity and duration, significantly influence the subsequent pathological changes, pain development, and therapeutic efficacy. However, precise control over the intensity and duration of nerve injury remains challenging within existing animal models, thereby impeding accurate and comparative assessments of relevant cases. Here, a new model that provides quantitative and off‐body controllable injury properties via a magnetically controlled clamp, is presented. The clamp can be implanted onto the rat sciatic nerve and exert varying degrees of compression under the control of an external magnetic field. It is demonstrated that this model can accurately simulate various degrees of pathology of human patients by adjusting the magnetic control and reveal specific pathological changes resulting from intensity heterogeneity that are challenging to detect previously. The controllability and quantifiability of this model may significantly reduce the uncertainty of central response and inter‐experimenter variability, facilitating precise investigations into nerve injury, regeneration, and pain mechanisms.
This study presents a new animal model of magnetically controlled scalable nerve injury (mSNI), which exerts quantitative and off‐body controllable compression injury to the rat sciatic nerve via a 3D‐printed, implantable, and magnetically controlled clamp. This model can accurately control the injury properties, thus facilitating precise investigations into peripheral nerve injury (PNI), regeneration, and neuropathic pain.