A surgical implant for repairing a defect. The implant has a first layer and a second layer. Each layer is flexible and planar. The first layer has an inner portion remote from a periphery, and an outer portion between the periphery and the inner portion. The second layer has an inner portion remote from a periphery, and an outer portion between the periphery and the inner portion. A bottom surface of the first layer near the inner portion thereof is connected to top surface of the second layer near the inner portion thereof so that the inner portion of the top layer is fixed relative to the inner portion of the second layer and the outer portion of the first layer is moveable relative to the outer portion of the second layer.

Crosslinked biodegradable block polyurethane copolymers prepared from a plurality of biodegradable polymers or oligomers linked together via urethane bonds and crosslinked via a citrate ester are disclosed. Such copolymers can include folic acid and fabricated into medical devices such as a nerve growth conduit and locally deliver folic acid to a site of injury such as a PNS injury site.

Tissue grafts with reduced regenerative potential, methods of preparing such grafts, and related kits and methods of treatment are described. The method may include treating tissue with a digestion solution comprising trypsin, alpha-chymotrypsin (ACT) and optionally ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) to substantially remove one or more susceptible proteins from the tissue. The method may also include washing the treated tissue with a buffer solution and/or with a serine-containing serum. Nerve grafts prepared according to the disclosed methods may inhibit, or lessen (e.g., provide for reduced) neuroma formation and/or axonal outgrowth after implantation.

An electrostimulatable 3-dimensional (3D) electrogel scaffold comprising piezoelectric nanoparticles uniformly dispersed throughout a homogenous hydrogel polymer matrix, wherein the hydrogel polymer matrix is gelled and comprises crosslinked alginate, carboxymethyl-chitosan and agarose polymers.

A medical device for repairing injuries to the spinal cord or peripheral nerve has a first flexible substrate supporting first nanoparticles selected from the group consisting of silicon, carbon, gold and titanium, at least partially embedded in a binding layer joined to the first flexible substrate. Each first nanoparticle develops along a preferential direction of development. The nanoparticles are oriented so that, statistically, the preferential direction of development is parallel to a first orientation of growth. Stem cells are at least partially embedded in the binding layer. The first nanoparticles are functionalized so that stem cell differentiation along the first nanoparticles is guided in the first orientation of growth. The first flexible substrate is suitable to assume a distended configuration and a wrapped configuration in which it is wrapped around the spinal cord or peripheral nerve whereby the first orientation of growth is statistically parallel to the neuronal direction of extension of neurons of the spinal cord or peripheral nerve.

A medical device having a tubular membrane with openings adapted to receive the ends of an injured nerve and a lumen to allow the regeneration of the nerve, such that the tubular membrane includes fibers of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) containing 3-hydroxybutyrate monomer units. The fibers have an average diameter from 500 nm to 2000 nm. Preferably, the PHA is a poly-3-hydroxybutyrate homopolymer and the tubular membrane further includes silver nanowires (Ag). The medical device has the advantages of not causing inflammation of the surrounding tissues surrounding the injured nerve, thus demonstrating a high biocompatibility, and at the same time exhibiting high ability to induce the regeneration of the injured nerve, providing a valid support for the maturation of the newly formed nerve fibers.

A composite nerve conduit comprising an elongated body comprising one or more hollow elongated internal channels for guiding and promoting nerve regeneration. The conduit is a three-dimensional scaffold comprising a crosslinked hybrid/composite matrix of collagen and soy protein isolate having improved mechanical and biocompatibility properties. Methods of using the conduit for promoting nerve regeneration at a site of neural tissue damage by bridging wounded, severed, or damaged nerve sections in a peripheral and/or central nervous system. Methods of fabricating composite neural conduits are also disclosed.

Biomaterial implants and methods for facilitating tissue repair and regeneration are provided herein. The implants may include organized hydrogel structures. Such implants are fabricated using a 2-phase polymerization technique, wherein hydrogel-based microspheres are formed as an intermediate product of the 2-phase polymerization technique. The implants of various embodiments provide an aligned substrate to guide tissue regeneration and can be cut or formed to conform to the size and shape of an injury.

The present disclosure is drawn to antimicrobial implantable medical devices, and can include an implantable medical device, and an antimicrobial metal applied to an exterior surface of at least a portion of the implantable medical that is positionable within a body tissue or traverses the body tissue when surgically placed (using surgical instruments beyond merely a needle or catheter port) for implantation.

The subject invention provides devices and methods for alleviating discomfort associated with neuroma formation. The devices and methods of the invention effectively use the body's natural response of reconstructing implanted biomaterials to minimize the size of isolate, and protect a neuroma. In preferred embodiments, the subject device is a cylindrical cap, wherein the internal chamber of the cylindrical cap physically partitions the nerve to enable an arrangement of nerve fibers (as opposed to haphazardly arranged nerve fibers often produced in neuromas). Tabs arranged on the outside of the cap can be used to manipulate the cap into place on a nerve. The open end can also be configured with flaps that can be used to widen the open end for easier insertion of the nerve into the cap. In addition, the cap's material remodels into a tissue cushion after implantation, which protects the neuroma from being stimulated and inducing pain.