Open AccessBiocompatible hydrogels in spinal cord injury repair
Author(s) -
Aleš Hejčl,
Petr Lesný,
Martin Přádný,
Jiřı́ Michálek,
Pavla Jendelová,
J Štulík,
Eva Syková
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
physiological research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.647
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1802-9973
pISSN - 0862-8408
DOI - 10.33549/physiolres.931606
Subject(s) - spinal cord injury , self healing hydrogels , spinal cord , regeneration (biology) , bridge (graph theory) , lesion , scaffold , biocompatible material , implant , biomedical engineering , medicine , neuroscience , anatomy , materials science , surgery , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , polymer chemistry
Spinal cord injury results in a permanent neurological deficit due to tissue damage. Such a lesion is a barrier for "communication" between the brain and peripheral tissues, effectors as well as receptors. One of the primary goals of tissue engineering is to bridge the spinal cord injury and re-establish the damaged connections. Hydrogels are biocompatible implants used in spinal cord injury repair. They can create a permissive environment and bridge the lesion cavities by providing a scaffold for the regeneration of neurons and their axons, glia and other tissue elements. The advantage of using artificial materials is the possibility to modify their physical and chemical properties in order to develop the best implant suitable for spinal cord injury repair. As a result, several types of hydrogels have been tested in experimental studies so far. We review our work that has been done during the last 5 years with various types of hydrogels and their applications in experimental spinal cord injury repair.