Injectable Biomaterial to Promote Neuronal Regeneration After Spinal Cord or Peripheral Nerve Injury

Decellularized Nerve Tissue Preserves Extracellular Matrix Proteins to Act as an Ideal Scaffold for SNerve Outgrowth

This injectable hydrogel nerve graft encourages neuronal repair and regeneration at the site of a peripheral or central nervous system injury. Tissue engineering therapies utilize implanted scaffolds to guide tissue regeneration, and tissue-specific scaffolds with the native extracellular matrix (ECM) protein environment do so most effectively. Nerve tissue scaffolds can help regenerate damaged neural tissue or deliver therapeutics to treat peripheral nerve and spinal cord injuries. These scaffolds must be free of cellular components to prevent immune rejection. However, standard decellularization steps use chemicals and harsh washings that damage ECM proteins and native tissue structure, limiting a scaffold’s regenerative capacity.

Researchers at the University of Florida have developed an injectable hydrogel derived from decellularized peripheral nerve tissue that encourages regeneration in the nervous system. This hydrogel could support cell viability, and thus could be a cell carrier for cell transplantation into the spinal cord (and possibly for other tissue applications). It could also serve as an ideal substrate for cell delivery, enhancing cell survival and cell localization at the injection site. The decellularization process utilizes apoptosis to ensure that the resulting nerve scaffold maintains the ECM proteins and mechanical properties of the native tissue.

Application

Tissue-specific extracellular matrix (ECM) hydrogel that is injected into the site of a spinal cord or peripheral nerve injury to form a scaffold for nerve regeneration therapy

Advantages

• Supports neural tissue regeneration, providing a therapy for spinal cord injuries (SCI) or peripheral nerve damage
• Preserves native ECM proteins and tissue structure, maximizing regenerative capacity
• Injects and gels into a scaffold in situ, enabling precise implantation with minimal invasiveness
• Fills cystic cavities owing to SCI with ECM biomaterial, improving neural therapeutics
• Decellularization and gelation procedure works with other tissue types, improving regenerative capacity of injectable scaffolds for many tissue engineering applications

Technology Detail

The injectable nerve scaffold is a hydrogel that gels in situ consisting of the extracellular matrix (ECM) protein structure of decellularized peripheral nerves. Decellularization of the tissue is mediated through apoptosis that causes organized fragmentation of cells, allowing for easy cell removal without detergents. This process causes less damage to the extracellular matrix (ECM) components in the nerves and takes less time. Enzymes solubilize the decellularized nerves into a liquid solution, which can then gel into the various non-uniform shapes of injury sites to support neuronal regeneration.