The Development of a Clinically Applicable Growth Factor-Releasing Biomaterial to Promote Endogenous Stem Cell Repair of the Brain After Stroke

Abstract

Endogenous neural stem/progenitor cells therapy is one of the most advanced clinical trial worldwide. Generally, drug is given to the targeted area through the traditional strategies such as intraventricular or intravenous delivery method. However, those methods always come with undesired side-effects such as over-dose of drug and offensive injection are not applicable to the large-scale clinical application. In this study, the clinical feasibility of blended biosynthesized cellulose duraplasty was studied. Our results showed that physical properties of BBC can be controlled through the optimized fabrication process. In addition, the time length of Middle cerebral artery occlusion rat model was tested through the 60 vs 90 mins occlusion time behavioral assessments of rat and the data indicated that 60 mins length can induce significant motor functional impairment. Finally, the EGF & EPO-loaded BBC duraplasty was implanted over the removed area and the ELISA test revealed that BBC duraplasty can release and delivery the growth factors to the targeted area (subvertical zone) at least 3 days after implantation. In summary, our BBC duraplasty is showing the potential prospection to be a clinical-applicable duraplasty to replace the traditional commercial duraplasty in the future stroke recovery therapy.