Dexamethasone-Loaded Hydrogels Improve Motor and Cognitive Functions in a Rat Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Model

Functional recovery following traumatic brain injury (TBI) is limited due to progressive neuronal damage resulting from secondary injury-associated neuroinflammation. Steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as dexamethasone (DX), can reduce neuroinflammation by activated microglia and infiltrated macrophages. In our previous work, we developed hydrolytically degradable poly(ethylene) glycol-bis-(acryloyloxy acetate) (PEG-bis-AA) hydrogels with dexamethasone (DX)-conjugated hyaluronic acid (HA-DXM) and demonstrated that dexamethasone-loaded hydrogels (PEG-bis-AA/HA-DXM) can reduce neuroinflammation, apoptosis, and lesion volume and improve neuronal cell survival and motor function recovery at seven days post-injury (DPI) in a rat mild-TBI model. In this study, we investigate the effects of the local application of PEG-bis-AA/HA-DXM hydrogels on motor function recovery at 7 DPI and cognitive functional recovery as well as secondary injury at 14 DPI in a rat mild-CCI TBI model. We observed that PEG-bis-AA/HA-DXM-treated animals exhibit significantly improved motor functions by the rotarod test and cognitive functions by the Morris water maze test compared to untreated TBI animals. We also observed that PEG-bis-AA/HA-DXM hydrogels reduce the inflammatory response, apoptosis, and lesion volume compared to untreated animals at 14 DPI. Therefore, PEG-bis-AA/HA-DXM hydrogels can be promising a therapeutic intervention for TBI treatment.