Open AccessSustained delivery of vascular endothelial growth factor mediated by bioactive methacrylic anhydride hydrogel accelerates peripheral nerve regeneration after crush injury
Author(s) -
Wanlin Xu,
Yifan Wu,
Hao Lü,
Yun Zhu,
Jinhai Ye,
Wenjun Yang
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
neural regeneration research/neural regeneration research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.93
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1876-7958
pISSN - 1673-5374
DOI - 10.4103/1673-5374.335166
Subject(s) - regeneration (biology) , medicine , neurotrophic factors , sciatic nerve , peripheral nerve injury , nerve growth factor , drug delivery , gelatin , crush injury , nerve injury , vascular endothelial growth factor , epineurium , surgery , anesthesia , chemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , receptor , organic chemistry , vegf receptors , biochemistry
Neurotrophic factors, currently administered orally or by intravenous drip or intramuscular injection, are the main method for the treatment of peripheral nerve crush injury. However, the low effective drug concentration arriving at the injury site results in unsatisfactory outcomes. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a treatment method that can increase the effective drug concentration in the injured area. In this study, we first fabricated a gelatin modified by methacrylic anhydride hydrogel and loaded it with vascular endothelial growth factor that allowed the controlled release of the neurotrophic factor. This modified gelatin exhibited good physical and chemical properties, biocompatibility and supported the adhesion and proliferation of RSC96 cells and human umbilical vein endothelial cells. When injected into the epineurium of crushed nerves, the composite hydrogel in the rat sciatic nerve crush injury model promoted nerve regeneration, functional recovery and vascularization. The results showed that the modified gelatin gave sustained delivery of vascular endothelial growth factors and accelerated the repair of crushed peripheral nerves.