ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Peripheral nerve injury has been very common in clinical work. Although microsurgical technique can restore the continuity of the injured nerve well, the nerve repair effect is still unsatisfactory due to the high degree of differentiation and low regeneration ability of the peripheral nerve tissue, which seriously affects the quality of life of patients. At present, there is no unified conclusion on the microenvironment of peripheral nerve injury, and there are many repair methods in common use. OBJECTIVE: To review the microenvironment of peripheral nerve injury and the repair methods of peripheral nerve injury. METHODS: A computer-based online search of PubMed and CNKI databases was performed for the articles published from January 1964 to September 2019. The key words were “peripheral nerve injury; microenvironment; microsurgical technique; small gap bridging” in English and Chinese, respectively. Finally, 57 eligible articles were included to review. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) After a series of animal experiments and clinical studies, changes in microenvironment such as the establishment of nerve regeneration channels, neurotrophic factors, immune response, inflammatory response, and hormone regulation have been confirmed to be important factors affecting peripheral nerve repair. (2) It is feasible to repair the peripheral nerve injury by using biological conduit small gap bridging instead of the traditional external and fascicular membrane.