GelMA-MXene hydrogel nerve conduits with microgrooves for spinal cord injury repair
Jiaying Cai, Hui Zhang, Yangnan Hu, Zhichun Huang, Yán Wāng, Yu Xia, Xiaoyan Chen, Jiamin Guo, Hong Cheng, Lin Xia, Weicheng Lu, Chen Zhang, Jingdun Xie, Huan Wang, Renjie Chai
Abstract
Repair of spinal cord injury (SCI) depends on microenvironment improvement and the reconnection between injured axons and regenerated neurons. Here, we fabricate a GelMA-MXene hydrogel nerve conduit with electrical conductivity and internal-facing longitudinal grooves and explore its function in SCI repair. It is found that the resultant grooved GelMA-MXene hydrogel could effectively promote the neural stem cells (NSCs) adhesion, directed proliferation and differentiation in vitro. Additionally, when the GelMA-MXene conduit loaded with NSCs (GMN) is implanted into the injured spinal cord site, effective repair capability for the complete transection of SCI was demonstrated. The GMN group shows remarkable nerve recovery and significantly higher BBB scores in comparison to the other groups. Therefore, GMN with the microgroove structure and loaded with NSCs is a promising strategy in treating SCI.