Peripheral nerve lesions are frequent occurrences in both human and animal patients, leading to important physiological and labor complications that affect the quality of life of those who suffer the injury. More severe injuries are often associated with poor nerve regeneration and inadequate functional recovery, even with early medical and surgical interventions. Peripheral nerve crush lesions are frequent and, therefore, an experimental lesion paradigm widely used in researches involving nerve injury models and therapies for its resolution. In recent years, many studies have focused on innovative approaches to peripheral nerve treatment after crush injuries with more or less success. This review addresses the theme of peripheral nerve injury, with a special focus on the axonotmesis lesion, its etiology, pathophysiological mechanisms, methods of functional evaluation and regenerative processes, therapeutic options and corresponding recent advances.

Bone tissue engineering has been developed in the past decades, with the engineering of bone substitutes on the vanguard of this regenerative approach. Polycaprolactone-based scaffolds are fairly applied for bone regeneration, and several composites have been incorporated so as to improve the scaffolds’ mechanical properties and tissue in-growth. In this study, hydroxyapatite is incorporated on polycaprolactone-based scaffolds at two different proportions, 80:20 and 60:40. Scaffolds are produced with two different blending methods, solvent casting and melt blending. The prepared composites are 3D printed through an extrusion-based technique and further investigated with regard to their chemical, thermal, morphological, and mechanical characteristics. In vitro cytocompatibility and osteogenic differentiation was also assessed with human dental pulp stem/stromal cells. The results show the melt-blending-derived scaffolds to present more promising mechanical properties, along with the incorporation of hydroxyapatite. The latter is also related to an increase in osteogenic activity and promotion. Overall, this study suggests polycaprolactone/hydroxyapatite scaffolds to be promising candidates for bone tissue engineering, particularly when produced by the MB method.