Controlled Guidance of Spinal Motor Axons through Synthetic Click Hydrogels

摘要

PEG hydrogels crosslinked through a copper-free click chemistry and functionalized with ECM-mimic peptides support the viability of encapsulated ESMNs through cell-material interactions and bioorthogonal gelation chemistry. Photodegradable aspect of the hydrogel platform and the versatility of two-photon confocal microscopy enable channels of sub-micron to macroscopic length scales to be eroded in 3D. In vivo axons extend through channels whose geometries span orders of magnitude in length scales from the microscopic intercellular spaces to the mesoscopic neuroepithelial endfeet channels to the macroscopic ventral root. This material platform enables the in vitro study and simulation of axon pathways and future work is focused on the assembly of a neural circuit.