Abstract:

Sensory nerves belong to the afferent nerve part of the peripheral nervous system. Their role is to accept the stimuli inside and outside the body and transmit them to the center nerve system to form sensations or reflexes. Sensory nerve damage can be caused by trauma, tumor invasion, surgical injury, etc. Sensory nerve injury may cause decline or loss of some sensory organs function in patients. Damage of important sensory nerves such as optic nerves and auditory nerves can bring profound troubles to patients' lives. So far, the main clinical method to repair sensory nerves is autologous nerve transplantation. However, its application is limited by various factors, and the recovery effect of nerve function is often limited. Stem cells have the potential of multi-directional differentiation, which can differentiate into Schwann cells, and then secrete neurotrophic factors to promote axonal growth and myelin regeneration. Schwann cells directionally proliferate and form Büngner zones which guide nerve regeneration. Stem cells can also differentiate into neurons and construct nerve defect repair materials, which is an ideal choice for nerve repair. At present, the tissue engineering technology based on stem cells, combined with several key biotechnology, such as the use of biopolymerized or artificial surface micro-patterning nerve conduit to bridge nerve defects, and the use of microspheres to achieve the controlled release of extracellular matrix proteins and neurotrophic factors, is being widely studied and has achieved certain research results. This article reviews the research progress of stem cells in the repair of several major sensory nerves, such as optic nerves, olfactory nerves, cochlear nerves and sensory nerve fibers of sciatic nerve, expecting to provide a new perspective for neural repair of stem cells, broaden the preclinical research in nerve repair, and provide reference for follow-up clinical application.

Key words: sensory nerve, peripheral nerve, stem cell, nerve repair