Peripheral nerve injuries often result in disastrous impairments of motor and sensory function for the affected individuals. Functional recovery is often incomplete, and pain and other sequalae of such lesions frequently persist despite best efforts to provide optimal treatment for the affected patients. The loss of a body part or its function is often accompanied by severe psychological distress, pain, and a sudden incapacity to participate in activities of daily living. Therefore, experimental researchers in the field aim to improve diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation following peripheral nerve injury, transferring experimental findings from the laboratory bench to the patient’s bedside. These proceedings span animal models to deepen our understanding of neurobiology and explore new techniques to restore lost function, the development and improvement of limb prosthesis, aiming to create a man-machine interface as well as tools and techniques to minimize and control neuroma formation, deafferentation pain, and phantom limb pain. Given the recent advances in the field of peripheral nerve repair, regeneration, and rehabilitation, the time is opportune for a methodological collection of current concepts in this area of research. The objective of this collection is to share standardized protocols of cutting-edge methods which will help to advance research in the areas of peripheral nerve injury, regeneration, and rehabilitation. We are convinced that this methods collection will comprise protocols that reflect the current state-of-the-art research, encouraging other researchers to further investigate areas of interest and sparking research endeavors addressing a myriad of research questions that have remained unanswered yet.
Establishment of a Co-culture System for DRG Neurons and Schwann Cells in order to Form Myelin Sheath In Vitro
Xin Tang*1,
Mingmei Zhu1,
Yan Li1
1Key Laboratory of Neuroregeneration of Jiangsu and Ministry of Education, Co-Innovation Center of Neuroregeneration, Nantong University, Nantong, JS 226001, China