A Bioinspired Self-Healing Conductive Hydrogel Promoting Peripheral Nerve Regeneration

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Science
• Tissue Engineering
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Self-healing conductive hydrogels are crucial for electroactive nerve tissue engineering.
• Hyaluronic acid (HA)-modified polypyrrole (PPy) films are used in biological applications, but their cell-matrix interactions are not well understood.
• Injectable, self-healing HA-PPy hydrogels for peripheral nerve repair are lacking.

Purpose of the Study:

• To construct a self-healing electroconductive hydrogel (HASPy) with injectability, biodegradability, biocompatibility, and nerve-regenerative capacity.
• To investigate the mechanism by which HASPy hydrogel interacts with cells and promotes nerve regeneration.
• To evaluate the efficacy of HASPy hydrogel in promoting functional recovery and remyelination in vivo.

Main Methods:

• Synthesized HASPy hydrogel using hyaluronic acid (HA), cystamine (Cys), and pyrrole-1-propionic acid (Py-COOH).
• Investigated the hydrogel's properties, including injectability, biodegradability, biocompatibility, and self-healing capabilities.
• Assessed the hydrogel's effect on Schwann cell myelination by analyzing the interleukin 17 (IL-17) signaling pathway.
• Injected HASPy hydrogel into rat sciatic nerve crush injury models to evaluate in vivo nerve regeneration.

Main Results:

• Constructed an injectable, biodegradable, and self-healing electroconductive HASPy hydrogel.
• Demonstrated that HASPy hydrogel targets interleukin 17 receptor A (IL-17RA) and activates the IL-17 signaling pathway.
• Observed promotion of Schwann cell myelination-related gene and protein expression.
• Showed that in vivo injection of HASPy hydrogel into rat sciatic nerve crush injuries promoted functional recovery and remyelination.

Conclusions:

• HASPy hydrogel serves as an advanced scaffold for peripheral nerve repair.
• The study provides insights into cell-matrix interactions in nerve tissue engineering.
• HASPy hydrogel shows significant potential for promoting neural regeneration and functional recovery.