A group of Chinese researchers has developed a cocktail hydrogel that promotes the regeneration of the neurovascular unit and repairs damaged brain tissue, offering a significant theoretical foundation and innovative strategies for cell replacement therapy for cortical brain injuries.Human neural progenitor cell (NPC) transplantation holds great promise for treating traumatic brain injuries.
However, it faces major challenges, including low cell survival rates, unclear differentiation pathways and limited functional integration efficiency.Researchers at the Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health under the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed a new cocktail hydrogel featuring a three-dimensional scaffold structure with biomimetic properties.According to a recent paper published in the Journal of Advanced Research, the material simulates the biochemical and mechanical environment of the natural extracellular matrix, significantly enhancing the adhesion, survival and lineage-specific differentiation of human NPCs.The hydrogel's biomimetic structures, in coordination with its bioactive microenvironment, provide sustained neurogenic induction signals that mimic brain tissue characteristics.
This process effectively drives the transformation of human NPCs into functional interneurons – a crucial type of neuron that enables advanced human cognitive functions.The study also found that the hydrogel helps reconstruct the microstructure of the neurovascular unit, significantly improves the local immune and metabolic microenvironment at injury sites, and promotes both the survival of human NPCs and their differentiation into cortical interneurons.
As a result, the hydrogel contributes to reshaping damaged brain tissue and partially restoring neural conduction function.(Cover: Illustration of the brain and neural networks.
/VCG)