A shape-persistent plasticine-like conductive hydrogel with self-healing properties for peripheral nerve regeneration

摘要

In recent years,electrically conductive hydrogel-based nerve guidance conduits(NGCs)have yielded promising results for treating peripheral nerve injuries(PNIs).However,developed ones are generally pre-manufactured and exhibit a limited ability to achieve good contact with nerve tissue with irregu-lar surfaces.Herein,we developed a plasticine-like electrically conductive hydrogel consisting of gelatin,conducting polypyrrole,and tannic acid(named GPT)and assessed its ability to promote peripheral nerve regeneration.The shape-persistent GPT hydrogel exhibited good self-healing properties and could easily be molded to form a conduit that could match any injured nerve tissue.Their electrical properties could be tuned by changing the PPy concentration.In vitro,the improved conductivity of the hydrogel pro-moted dorsal root ganglion(DRG)axonal extension.More importantly,we found that the GPT hydrogel enhanced axonal regeneration and remyelination in vivo,preventing denervation atrophy and enhancing functional recovery in a mice model of sciatic nerve injury.These results suggest that our plasticine-like NGC has huge prospects for clinical application in the repair of PNI.