Injectable hydrogels of optimized acellular nerve for injection in the injured spinal cord.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Spinal cord injury (SCI) affects a quarter million individuals in the United States, and there is currently no clinical treatment. Both fresh and acellular peripheral nerve grafts can induce spinal axon regeneration and support functional recovery in experimental injury models. Nonetheless, a scaffold that can be injected into a spinal contusion would be far less invasive to apply. We aimed to develop the first injectable acellular nerve graft for promoting repair after contusion SCI.

Approach

We report a method to enzymatically solubilize optimized acellular (OA) nerve-a decellularized peripheral nerve graft developed in our laboratory and currently used clinically-to obtain an injectable solution that undergoes thermal gelation under physiological conditions. We

SUBMITTER: Cornelison RC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5911159 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature