Delivery of Alginate Scaffold Releasing Two Trophic Factors for Spinal Cord Injury Repair

Sci Rep. 2015 Sep 8:5:13702. doi: 10.1038/srep13702.

Abstract

Spinal cord injury (SCI) has been implicated in neural cell loss and consequently functional motor and sensory impairment. In this study, we propose an alginate-based neurobridge enriched with/without trophic growth factors (GFs) that can be utilized as a therapeutic approach for spinal cord repair. The bioavailability of key GFs, such as Epidermal Growth factor (EGF) and basic Fibroblast Growth Factor (bFGF) released from injected alginate biomaterial to the central lesion site significantly enhanced the sparing of spinal cord tissue and increased the number of surviving neurons (choline acetyltransferase positive motoneurons) and sensory fibres. In addition, we document enhanced outgrowth of corticospinal tract axons and presence of blood vessels at the central lesion. Tissue proteomics was performed at 3, 7 and 10 days after SCI in rats indicated the presence of anti-inflammatory factors in segments above the central lesion site, whereas in segments below, neurite outgrowth factors, inflammatory cytokines and chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan of the lectican protein family were overexpressed. Collectively, based on our data, we confirm that functional recovery was significantly improved in SCI groups receiving alginate scaffold with affinity-bound growth factors (ALG+GFs), compared to SCI animals without biomaterial treatment.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Alginates* / chemistry
  • Animals
  • Axons / metabolism
  • Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide / metabolism
  • Calcium-Binding Proteins / metabolism
  • Cluster Analysis
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / metabolism
  • Glucuronic Acid / chemistry
  • Hexuronic Acids / chemistry
  • Hyperalgesia
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Male
  • Microfilament Proteins / metabolism
  • Motor Activity
  • Motor Neurons / metabolism
  • Motor Neurons / pathology
  • Neovascularization, Physiologic
  • Nerve Growth Factors / biosynthesis*
  • Proteome
  • Proteomics / methods
  • Rats
  • Recovery of Function
  • Spinal Cord Injuries / metabolism*
  • Spinal Cord Injuries / pathology
  • Spinal Cord Injuries / physiopathology
  • Spinal Cord Injuries / rehabilitation
  • Spinal Cord Injuries / therapy
  • Synaptic Vesicles / metabolism
  • Tissue Scaffolds*

Substances

  • Aif1 protein, rat
  • Alginates
  • Calcium-Binding Proteins
  • Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein
  • Hexuronic Acids
  • Microfilament Proteins
  • Nerve Growth Factors
  • Proteome
  • Glucuronic Acid
  • Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide