Method for making nerve graft

A method for making a nerve graft, comprising:

• fabricating a culture layer comprising a lyophobic substrate, a protein layer, and a carbon nanotube film structure sandwiched between the lyophobic substrate and the protein layer to form a three-layer structure, the carbon nanotube film structure being a free-standing structure and comprising a plurality of drawn carbon nanotube films stacked with each other, wherein adjacent carbon nanotube films are combined and attracted to each other by van der Waals attractive force therebetween, each of the plurality of carbon nanotube films comprises a plurality of carbon nanotubes oriented along a direction that is substantially parallel to a surface of the carbon nanotube film structure, and joined end to end along the same direction by van der Waals force, an angle between two orienting directions of carbon nanotubes of the adjacent carbon nanotube films is about 90 degrees, and the lyophobic substrate is a silica gel substrate or a substrate coated with silica gel;
• seeding a plurality of nerve cells on a surface of the protein layer spaced away from the lyophobic substrate;
• and
• culturing the purality of nervecells untila plurality of neurites are branched from the plurality of nerve cells and connected between the plurality of nerve cells to form a nerve network;
• wherein the fabricating the culture layer comprises the steps of:
• providing the lyophobic substrate,
• placing the carbon nanotube film structure on a surface of the lyophobic substrate, and
• soaking the carbon nanotube film structure located on the lyophobic substrate with a protein solution to form the protein layer that has a thickness in the range of from about 0.3 micrometers to about 2 micrometers.