Chapter 1: Peripheral nerve repair and regeneration research: a historical note

Abstract

Although the most significant advances in nerve repair and regeneration have been acquired over the last few decades, the study of nerve repair and regeneration potential dates back to ancient times namely to Galen in the second century A.D. This brief historical note outlines the milestones which have guided us to our present knowledge. In particular, we focus on the nineteenth century and the first decades of the twentieth century, an age in which the fathers of neurosurgery and neurobiology established the basis for most of the nerve repair and regeneration concepts used today. Finally, we shine a light on the most current history to show how recent pressure to use modern interdisciplinary and translational approach represents a sort of rediscovery of the scientific habits of the fathers of modern biomedicine, who used to carry out research from an integrated and broad point of view rather than from a super-specialized and specific one as it is often used today.