In mice with a spinal cord injury, mixing materials including bioactive sequences formed a polymer meshwork that improved axon regrowth, angiogenesis, and neuronal cell survival. The study points to opportunities for specially controlled supramolecular polymers.
The design of materials to encourage the repair of tissue after injury is a long-standing goal of regenerative medicine. Particularly as relates to spinal cord injury, scientists have focused on designing synthetic mimics of the extracellular matrix (ECM), a vital component of all tissues.
Supramolecular polymers—a promising class of materials that self-assemble into fibrous materials—can act as simple but tailored mimics of the ECM. The authors synthesized supramolecular peptide fibril scaffolds bearing two peptide sequences that promote nerve regeneration—one that reduces glial scarring and another that promotes blood vessel formation.
They tested their supramolecular peptide fibril scaffolds in a mouse model of paralyzing human spinal cord injury. By mutating the peptide sequence of key monomers in the scaffolds, they intensified the motions of molecules within the scaffold fibrils. This resulted in notable differences in vascular growth, axonal regeneration, myelination, survival of motor neurons, reduced gliosis, and functional recovery in the mice.
“Our work demonstrates that bioactive scaffolds that physically and computationally reveal greater supramolecular motion lead to greater functional recovery from [spinal cord injury] in the murine model," the authors write.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abh3602
Bioactive scaffolds promote repair of spinal cord injury
- 816 views
- Added
Edited
Latest News
Abusive drugs hijack natura…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
Mechanism of action of the…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
Role of fat in rare neurolo…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
How protein synthesis in de…
By newseditor
Posted 22 Apr
Atlas of mRNA variants in d…
By newseditor
Posted 22 Apr
Other Top Stories
Another gene that causes MND with defective mitochondria and lipid…
Read more
Insects harbor over a thousand genes from microbes, which help them…
Read more
New dementia risk genes identified!
Read more
Glycoprotein GPNMB is a possible biomarker for Parkinson's Disease…
Read more
How a gene variant protects against Alzheimer's disease
Read more
Protocols
A programmable targeted pro…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
MemPrep, a new technology f…
By newseditor
Posted 08 Apr
A tangible method to assess…
By newseditor
Posted 08 Apr
Stem cell-derived vessels-o…
By newseditor
Posted 06 Apr
Single-cell biclustering fo…
By newseditor
Posted 01 Apr
Publications
Exploiting pancreatic cance…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
Structure of antiviral drug…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
Type-I-interferon-responsiv…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
Selenium, diabetes, and the…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
Long-term neuropsychologica…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
Presentations
Hydrogels in Drug Delivery
By newseditor
Posted 12 Apr
Lipids
By newseditor
Posted 31 Dec
Cell biology of carbohydrat…
By newseditor
Posted 29 Nov
RNA interference (RNAi)
By newseditor
Posted 23 Oct
RNA structure and functions
By newseditor
Posted 19 Oct
Posters
A chemical biology/modular…
By newseditor
Posted 22 Aug
Single-molecule covalent ma…
By newseditor
Posted 04 Jul
ASCO-2020-HEALTH SERVICES R…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar
ASCO-2020-HEAD AND NECK CANCER
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar
ASCO-2020-GENITOURINARY CAN…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar