Curcumin-loaded keratin-chitosan hydrogels for enhanced peripheral nerve regeneration

Peripheral nerve injury often leads to symptoms of motor and sensory impairment, and slow recovery of nerves after injury and limited treatment methods will aggravate symptoms or even lead to lifelong disability. Curcumin can promote peripheral nerve regeneration, but how to accurately deliver the appropriate concentration of curcumin in the local peripheral nerve remains to be solved. In this study, we designed a human hair keratin/chitosan (C/K) hydrogel with sodium tripolyphosphate ions crosslinked to deliver curcumin topically. Chitosan improves the mechanical properties of hydrogels and keratin improves the biocompatibility of hydrogels. C/K hydrogel showed good cytocompatibility, histocompatibility and degradability. In vitro experiments showed that hydrogels can continuously release curcumin for up to 10 days. In addition, a comprehensive analysis of behavioral, electrophysiological, histology, and target organ recovery results in animal experiments showed that locally delivered curcumin can enhance nerve regeneration in addition to hydrogels. In short, we provide a new method that combines the advantages of human hair keratin, chitosan, and curcumin for nerve damage repair.