The Role of Biomaterials in Peripheral Nerve and Spinal Cord Injury: A Review

Abstract

Peripheral nerve and spinal cord injuries are potentially devastating traumatic conditions with major consequences for patients’ lives. Severe cases of these conditions are currently incurable. In both the peripheral nerves and the spinal cord, disruption and degeneration of axons is the main cause of neurological deficits. Biomaterials offer experimental solutions to improve these conditions. They can be engineered as scaffolds that mimic the nerve tissue extracellular matrix and, upon implantation, encourage axonal regeneration. Furthermore, biomaterial scaffolds can be designed to deliver therapeutic agents to the lesion site. This article presents the principles and recent advances in the use of biomaterials for axonal regeneration and nervous system repair.

Biomaterial-Mediated Factor Delivery for Spinal Cord Injury Treatment

“…These medical devices can carry a large variety of therapeutic agents (e.g., drugs, neurotrophins, and antibodies) and release them locally at the injury site [ 68 ]. An overview of the conventional and non-conventional treatments is presented in Table 1 and Figure 1 .…”

Aptamer engineering exosomes loaded on biomimetic periosteum to promote angiogenesis and bone regeneration by targeting injured nerves via JNK3 MAPK pathway

“…Numerous studies indicated that fiber-like or channel-like microstructures arranged longitudinally could guide neurite growth during neurite growth [ [27] , [28] , [29] , [30] ]. Recent studies have found that introducing axially aligned microchannel structures into the bio-scaffold could effectively guide and significantly facilitate neurite extension and Schwann cell migration [ 31 , 32 ]. As a common material for bone tissue engineering, polycaprolactone (PCL) has good biocompatibility, fewer acid decomposition products, good mechanical properties, and a slow degradation rate, providing time for tissue remodeling [ 33 , 34 ].…”

Novel Strategies for Spinal Cord Regeneration

“…Thus, increasing research interest has been noticed in designing advanced repair strategies for spinal cord regeneration. Particular attention has been drawn to biomaterials and nanotechnologyenabled products for the controlled delivery and sustained release of various moieties, including drugs, bioactive molecules, imaging agents, and cells [12][13][14][15][16][17][18].…”