Open AccessCollagen for brain repair: therapeutic perspectives
Author(s) -
Buket Uçar,
Christian Humpel
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
neural regeneration research/neural regeneration research
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.93
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1876-7958
pISSN - 1673-5374
DOI - 10.4103/1673-5374.230273
Subject(s) - neuroregeneration , biomaterial , biocompatible material , neuroprotection , neuroscience , central nervous system , medicine , biomedical engineering , biology
Biomaterials have increasingly become a focus of research on neuroprotection and neuroregeneration. Collagen, in terms of brain repair, presents many advantages such as being remarkably biocompatible, biodegradable, versatile and non-toxic. Collagen can be used to form injectable scaffolds and micro/nano spheres in order to: (i) locally release therapeutic factors with the aim of protecting degenerating neurons in neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's diseases, (ii) encapsulate stem cells for safe delivery, (iii) encapsulate genetically modified cells to provide a long term source of trophic factors, (iv) fill in the voids from injury to serve as a structural support and provide a permissive microenvironment to promote axonal growth. This mini-review summarizes different applications of collagen biomaterial for central nervous system protection and repair, as well as the future perspectives. Overall, collagen is a promising natural biomaterial with various applications which has the potential to progress the development of therapeutic strategies in central nervous system injuries and degeneration.