Epidural Thin Film Implants of Polymerized Curcumin Downregulate Inflammatory Markers and Improve Functional Recovery After Spinal Cord Injury in Mice.

ABSTRACT: We demonstrate for the first time that the natural antioxidant curcumin, when copolymerized with PEG and sebacoyl chloride, results in biomaterials that are solution processable into free-standing, epidurally implantable thin films, in mice with spinal cord injury (SCI). We show that these novel products can be epidurally implanted at the lesion site following incomplete contusive spinal cord injury in mice. In the polymeric form, these materials quench reactive oxygen species on-contact and retain their activity for vastly extended timescales relative to the curcumin small molecule itself, which is potent but short lived. The epidural thin film biomaterial implant resulted in a statistically significant improvement in functional recovery after SCI. Mechanistically, myelin staining reveale

SUBMITTER: Toro CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12803040 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature