Design of Soft, Stretchable Bladder-Integrated Scaffolds for Advanced Bioelectronic Implants

Neurogenic bladder is a challenging condition caused by neurological disorders, such as spinal cord injury (SCI), leading to impaired bladder function. Bladder-integrated implants are critically needed for restoring function, managing incontinence, or continuous bladder health monitoring. However, developing such neurotechnology remains challenging due to the bladder's large and dynamic volume changes (≈300%), which often cause mechanical incompatibility, tissue irritation, and limited long-term efficacy. In this work, it is designed and evaluate highly stretchable, biocompatible, and bladder-integrated implantable scaffolds that seamlessly conform to bladder expansion and contraction with negligible physiological impact using a biomimetic in vitro bladder model. This findings show that cross-shaped scaffolds provide superior stretch-ability with negligible effect on bladder compliance. Compared to the control (no implants), these scaffolds exhibit minimum effect on bladder deformation even under 300% volume expansion. Long-term mechanical tests confirm their positional stability, while cytocompatibility studies show high biocompatibility (>99.5% cell viability), highlighting their potential usage for chronic implantation in urological applications. This work provides important insights into the development of advanced bladder-integrated, highly stretchable bioelectronic implants for real-time monitoring and neuromodulation of bladder dysfunction. The proposed novel engineering design and innovative approach lay a solid foundation for next-generation bladder rehabilitation technologies.