Journal article
Magnetic alignment of injectable hydrogel scaffolds for spinal cord injury repair
Biomaterials science, v 10(9), pp 2237-2247
04 May 2022
PMID: 35352727
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Injectable hydrogels for cell delivery and tissue regeneration have several advantages over pre-fabricated scaffolds that require more invasive transplantation procedures, but lack the ability to implement tunable topologies. Here, we describe an approach to create patternable and injectable scaffolds using magnetically-responsive (MR) self-assembling peptide hydrogels, and validate their efficacy to promote and align axon infiltration at the site of a spinal cord injury.
In vitro
experiments reveal the parameters needed to align the fibers using the application of an external magnetic field. These results indicate that applying a 100-Gauss (G) field to the peptide hydrogels during polymerization causes fiber alignment as measured by electron microscopy, even in the presence of cells. In order to mimic infiltrating axons, neural progenitor cells (NPCs) are seeded on the surface of peptide hydrogels to interrogate the effects of both magnetic alignment and embedding human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) in the scaffold. NPCs infiltrate peptide hydrogels seeded with hMSCs, and exhibit increased alignment and elongation in aligned gels. In order to evaluate these injectable and patternable scaffolds
in vivo
, hMSC-seeded peptide hydrogels are injected at the site of a contusion spinal cord injury with and without the presence of a magnetic field to align the resulting fibrous network. Measurements of axon growth and orientation as well as inflammation and glial scar formation indicate that these metrics are improved in magnetically aligned hMSC-seeded hydrogels. The results verify that MR hydrogels can dictate the orientation of infiltrating axons, providing a viable means to control the topology of injectable scaffolds.
Metrics
Details
- Title
- Magnetic alignment of injectable hydrogel scaffolds for spinal cord injury repair
- Creators
- Kiet A. Tran - Rowan UniversityYing Jin - Drexel UniversityJulien Bouyer - Drexel UniversityBrandon J. DeOre - Rowan UniversityŁukasz Suprewicz - Medical University of BiałystokAna Figel - Rowan UniversityHannah Walens - Rowan UniversityItzhak Fischer - Drexel UniversityPeter A. Galie - Rowan University
- Publication Details
- Biomaterials science, v 10(9), pp 2237-2247
- Publisher
- Royal Society of Chemistry
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Neurobiology and Anatomy
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000775121100001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85128354840
- Other Identifier
- 991019167425904721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Materials Science, Biomaterials