Reconstructing spinal dura-like tissue using electrospun poly(lactide-co-glycolide) membranes and dermal fibroblasts to seamlessly repair spinal dural defects in goats

Abstract

Many neuro- and spinal surgeries involving access to the underlying nervous tissue will cause defect of spinal dural mater, further resulting in cerebrospinal fluid leakage. The current work was thus aimed to develop a package which included two layers of novel electrospun membranes, dermal fibroblasts and mussel adhesive protein for repairing spinal dural defect. The inner layer is electrospun fibrous poly(lactide-co-glycolide) membrane with oriented microstructure (O-poly(lactide-co-glycolide)), which was used as a substrate to anchor dermal fibroblasts as seed cells to reconstitute dura-like tissue via tissue engineering technique. The outer layer is chitosan-coated electrospun nonwoven poly(lactide-co-glycolide) membrane (poly(lactide-co-glycolide)-chitosan). During surgery, the inner reconstituted tissue layer was first used to directly cover dura defects, while the outer layer was placed onwards with its marginal area tightly immobilized to the surrounding normal spinal dura aided by mussel adhesive protein. Efficacy of the current design was verified in goats with spinal dural defects (0.6 cm × 0.5 cm) in lumbar. It was shown that seamless and quick sealing of the defect area with the implants was realized by mussel adhesive protein. Guided tissue growth and regeneration in the defects of goats were observed when they were repaired by the current package. Effective cerebrospinal fluid containment and anti-adhesion of the regenerated tissue to the surrounding tissue could be achieved in the current animal model. Hence, it could be ascertained that the current package could be a favorite choice for surgeries involving spinal dural defects.

Electrospun drug‐loaded scaffolds for nervous system repair

“…Electrospun dural substitutes have now been explored due to their ECM‐like structure. Furthermore, they can be further modified to increase fibroblast migration, adhesion, and proliferation (Ma et al, 2021; Yu et al, 2015). This feature is particularly important in dural repair as dural fibroblasts can accelerate wound closure following implantation, therefore preventing any further CSF leakage at the injury site.…”

Electrospun Nanofibers for Dura Mater Regeneration: A Mini Review on Current Progress

“…As a result, various synthetic polymers such as poly lactic acid (PLA), polyurethane (PU), polyethylene glycol (PEG), poly-E-caprolactone (PCL), poly (3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3 hydroxyvalerate (PHBV), polyglycolic acid (PGA), and etc. have been applied for synthesizing dural substitutes [ 52 , 66 , 67 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 , 80 ]. Although synthetic polymers possess sufficient mechanical properties, most of them are rejected due to local tissue reactions, excessive scar formation, meningitic symptoms, etc.…”

A robust and biodegradable hydroxyapatite/poly(lactide-co-ε-caprolactone) electrospun membrane for dura repair

“…15,16 There have also been a lot of studies on the preparation of dura repair materials using electrospinning technology. [17][18][19] Moreover, research has demonstrated the superior overall qualities of biodegradable synthetic materials for dura repair, such as polylactic acid (PLA), polycaprolactone (PCL), polylactic acid-glycolic acid (PLGA), and polyurethane (PU) produced by electrospinning technology. [20][21][22] The FDA has also approved PLA and PCL as implantable degradable polymer materials.…”