Engineering neural stem cell fates with hydrogel design for central nervous system regeneration

Insight on stem cell preconditioning and instructive biomaterials to enhance cell adhesion, retention, and engraftment for tissue repair

“…SCI is caused by disruption of nerve connections between the brain and the rest of the body, resulting in paralysis and loss of sensation below the level of injury. In the US alone, the number of patients living with SCI injuries is approximately 450,000 with 11,000 new cases appearing every year [55]. Only supportive therapies, including rehabilitation and intensive multisystem medications for controlling pain and spasticity, are available.…”

“…Approximately 500,000 new cases of brain stroke appear each year in the US alone, generating a huge socioeconomic burden of approximately $54 billion/year. Ischemic stroke accounts for 80% of all brain strokes [55]. While no cure is available for cerebral ischemic stroke to date, currently available approaches focus on thrombolysis and neuroprotection, which have demonstrated a limited number of benefits in a small number of patients.…”

“…These differences in the physical properties, structure, and composition affect cell function. Therefore, biomaterials mimicking the biochemical and mechanical properties of CNS tissues can significantly improve the success of the implanted scaffold [55,63,64]. Taken together, any biomaterials used to prepare neural scaffolds should possess the appropriate physicochemical, biomechanical, and biological properties [194].…”

Evaluation of Small Intestine Submucosa and Poly(caprolactone-co-lactide) Conduits for Peripheral Nerve Regeneration

“…[9][10][11][12][13][14] Many kinds of artificial peripheral NGCs have been developed by using different biomaterials. [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] With the development of various biomaterials and fabrication techniques during the previous decades, NGCs have been greatly improved to satisfy the requirement of easy fabrication, reproducibility or availability for mass production, suturability, sterilizability, along with proper mechanical properties to resist collapsing when applied to in vivo implantation and regeneration. [9][10][11][12][13][14] In terms of NGC fabrication, biomaterial selection and optimization are also important for an ultimately good nerve regeneration outcome.…”

The type and composition of alginate and hyaluronic-based hydrogels influence the viability of stem cells of the apical papilla

“…Most of the studies focused on neuronal differentiation of mesenchymal and neuronal stem cells. The main tendency that is frequently reported is that the softer the hydrogel, the better the neurodifferentiation [28,29]. The lower plateau modulus of alginate MVG versus SLM (Table 1) can be explained by the different alginate concentrations, as well as different proportions of guluronic and mannuronic units that compose the two polymers.…”