Is Graphene Shortening the Path toward Spinal Cord Regeneration?

Abstract

Along with the development of the next generation of biomedical platforms, the inclusion of graphene-based materials (GBMs) into therapeutics for spinal cord injury (SCI) has potential to nourish topmost neuroprotective and neuroregenerative strategies for enhancing neural structural and physiological recovery. In the context of SCI, contemplated as one of the most convoluted challenges of modern medicine, this review first provides an overview of its characteristics and pathophysiological features. Then, the most relevant ongoing clinical trials targeting SCI, including pharmaceutical, robotics/neuromodulation, and scaffolding approaches, are introduced and discussed in sequence with the most important insights brought by GBMs into each particular topic. The current role of these nanomaterials on restoring the spinal cord microenvironment after injury is critically contextualized, while proposing future concepts and desirable outputs for graphene-based technologies aiming to reach clinical significance for SCI.

Current treatments after spinal cord injury: Cell engineering, tissue engineering, and combined therapies

“…In fact, raw graphene is being used in potential advanced therapies for the treatment of SCI, which continues to be one of the most disruptive medical disorders, along with other graphene‐based materials (GBMs) such as graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO). GBMs have shown promising outcomes in the following areas 95 : (1) the capacity of GBMs to support proper axonal sprouting and long‐tract outgrowth as well as to enhance NSC survival and differentiation; (2) the capacity of 3D graphene‐based scaffolds to alter the spinal cord's hierarchical structure and encourage a successful bridging of the lesion site; and (3) their usage in nerve tissue engineering scaffolds as seed cell, trophic factor, and medication transporters to establish a foundation for creating a local microenvironment following spinal cord damage.…”

Supramolecular Hydrogel Microspheres of Platelet-Derived Growth Factor Mimetic Peptide Promote Recovery from Spinal Cord Injury

“…According to statistics provided by World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 40–80 new cases of spinal cord injury (SCI) are reported worldwide per million people each year . Below the SCI lesion sections, there may be severe and permanent deficits in motor and sensory functions as a result of neuronal loss, limited regenerative capacity of the central nervous system (CNS), disruption of synaptic connections, and a complicated microenvironment. , Although internal spinal stabilization, surgical decompression, blood pressure management, corticosteroid shocks, and neurotrophic medicine are routine clinical practices to treat spinal cord injuries, these are not effective in significantly improving the patient’s motor function. − Additionally, after SCI, supplemental neuronal therapies are greatly lacking in clinical treatment. Therefore, exogenous neuronal replacement approaches have been intensively investigated in animal models, and various studies have revealed that exogenous neural stem cells, neural stem cell precursor cells, and mature neurons can improve the motor function of animals following SCI. − Other than stem cells, there are relatively few sources of mature neurons, thereby making neurons derived from stem cells to be the most promising source of the seed cells for neuronal replacement therapy after SCI.…”

Worldwide productivity and research trend of publications concerning electroactive materials and spinal cord injury: A bibliometric study

“…Graphene is a monolayer of SP2 in a two-dimensional arrangement of hybridized carbon atoms (2D) honeycomb lattice. Graphene-based materials (GBM) play a neuroprotective role by modulating endogenous inflammatory responses to counteract cell death and limit the spread of damage, while GBM can act as a scaffold to build effective bridging networks and promote the survival and differentiation of neural stem cells (NSCs) for neuroregeneration (Girao et al, 2022). Therefore, these materials may be employed as scaffolds to promote cell growth and tissue regeneration, as well as scaffolds and drug carriers to repair (restore) spinal cord injuries, garnering the interest of medical researchers throughout the world.…”