Physical Cue-Based Strategies on Peripheral Nerve Regeneration

Peripheral nerve injury (PNI) remains an intractable challenge in regenerative medicine. Recently, physical cue-based strategies (e.g., electrical neurostimulation, acoustic radiation, electromagnetic bioregulation, as well as directional fiber guiding, etc.) have drawn increasing attention not only as a stimulator for cell functions modulation and fate determination, but also as a morphology-index for modulating cell phenotype, proliferation, and differentiation, especially for nerve cells. More importantly, the advanced percutaneous power transmission technology, self-power nanotechnology that leverages piezoelectrical/triboelectricity materials, and focused ultrasound and pulsed electromagnetic field technology exhibit the appealing practice potential for achieving low-invasive, wireless, and battery-free neuromodulation. In this review, recent advances of physical cue-based strategies including electrical, acoustic, magnetic, and morphology for PNI are systematically overviewed, and the open challenges for realizing scalable clinical/commercial transformation and future perspectives of these strategies for PNI are concluded.