4D BIOFABRICATION OF NERVE GUIDE CONDUITS USING RESPONSIVE MATERIALS

29 Jun 2022, 16:10
10m
Room: S3 B

Room: S3 B

Speaker

Tiwari, Neha (University of Bayreuth )

Description

The current gold standard for peripheral nerve repair is autograft. However, the low availability of nerves and loss of function at the donor site are the major disadvantages associated with this procedure. Thus, to address the limited regenerative capability of the human nerves, nerve guidance conduits (NGCs) fabricated using biocompatible and biodegradable materials has proven to be a potential alternative. Various approaches have been explored so far to develop tubular structures for neural regeneration including bioprinting, self-assembly, micropatterning, electrospinning among others. Multiple reports in literature indicates potential of such NGCs in in vitro experiments, however, they fail to provide axonal outgrowth in in vivo studies. The underlying reason is the limitations associated with 3D printing approaches like low resolution of printing tubular structure, thin walled tubes for permeation of nutrients and waste products, high shear forces needed to print the material and difficulty in fixation of endings of ruptured nerves in the nerve conduits. 4D biofabrication based on fabrication of complex structures using 2D and 3D objects by desired shape transformation with response to external stimuli can provide potential solution to the above-mentioned problems. Furthermore, 4D biofabricated structures can be designed to mimic the human tissues like blood vessels, neural tissues etc.
In our group, we have designed and fabricated various shape-morphing systems towards tissue regeneration. We observed that fabrication of fibres using electrospinning technique incorporates high porosity which proved to be beneficial towards fast actuation in addition to better exchange of nutrients and waste products. [1, 2] Making use of our previous expertise, in our current project, we are fabricating NGC using smart materials which is expected to overcome limitations not accessible via state of art technologies. We have fabricated fibrous bilayer which is able to self-fold owing to the non-uniform swelling of the two layers. The inner layer of the fibrous bilayer consists of aligned fibres produced using coaxial electrospinning technique with active biomolecules like growth factors in the core and conductive material in the shell. [3] The shell of the fibres will help in providing electrical stimulation whereas the core will help in growth of nerve cells by sustained release of growth factors upon slow degradation. The thoughtfully designed NGCs using smart materials and advanced techniques have potential to overcome the current limitations associated.

[1] Apsite, I; Stoychev, G; Zhang, W; Jehnichen, D; Xie, J; Ionov, L. Biomacromolecules, 2017, 18, 3178
[2] Apsite, I.; Constante, G.; Dulle, M.; Vogt, L.; Caspari, A.; Boccaccini, A. R.; Synytska, A.; Salehi, S.; Ionov, L. Biofabrication, 2020, 12 (3), 035027.
[3] Yang Lu, Jiangnan Huang, Guoqiang Yu, Romel Cardenas, Suying Wei, Evan K. Wujcik1 and Zhanhu Guo. Nanomed. Nanobiotechnol., 2016, 8, 654–677

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