Microparticle Hydrogels for Nervous System Repair

Microparticle hydrogels, or microgels, have emerged as promising therapeutics for nervous system repair because of their many beneficial properties. These properties include porosity, which leads to nutrient and waste exchange, large surface area to volume ratio compared to bulk biomaterials for cellular attachment and growth, and tailorable drug release to act as drug delivery depots. The potential of microgels as therapeutics in the nervous system is demonstrated by the key research being conducted in the field of nervous system repair.

In this review, we discuss nervous system injuries and diseases that could benefit clinically from microgel therapeutics. Models of the in vitro nervous system that incorporate microgels are described, and in vivo models of nervous system injury or disease that use microgels as therapeutics are presented.

The studies reported here show the promise of microgels in developing in vitro models to study the nervous system and their use as therapeutics in nervous system repair. Microgels have been shown to improve outcomes in many different animal models of nervous system injury or disease. These findings demonstrate the potential of microgels in nervous system repair and provide the rationale to continue to study and develop microgels to improve outcomes in the nervous system.