FGF-loaded GelMA Hydrogel Microspheres For Spinal Nerve Regeneration

Spinal cord injury(SCI)is a serious central nervous system injury(CNS),and its treatment has always been a difficulty in basic and clinical medical research.Many drugs have been proved to have the function of treating SCI,such as neurotrophic factors,gangliosides and so on.However,due to the short half-life of these factors,it is difficult to ensure the stability of the concentration in a long time of nerve repair,so it is difficult to implement peripheral intravenous administration.Here,in order to ensure the efficacy of nutritional factors and achieve the desired effect,we propose a fibroblast growth factors(FGF)-loaded Gel MA hydrogel microspheres with ideal performance for controlled drug delivery and spinal cord injury repair.In particular,the microspheres derived from natural polymer materials possess good biocompatibility,thus playing important roles in drug delivery,tissue engineering,etc.At the same time,with the help of microfluidic technology,the microsphere carrier with uniform size and good stability was obtained.More importantly,thanks to the porous structure of Gel MA microspheres,drugs and active molecules are easier to enter and protected from active enzymes in vivo.In addition,by co-culture with neural stem cells in vitro,it was found that the FGF-loaded Gel MA microspheres could effectively promote NSCs proliferation and differentiation.We also proved the positive role of the FGF-loaded Gel MA microspheres in nerve repair of spinal cord injury in rats,which may have potential value for application in repairing central nervous system injuries.