Injection of Stromal Cell-Derived Factor-1 (SDF-1) Nanoparticles After Traumatic Brain Injury Stimulates Recruitment of Neural Stem Cells

Nanoparticle-based drug delivery for the treatment of traumatic brain injury

INTRODUCTION

Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) impact the breadth of society and remain without any approved pharmacological treatments. Despite successful Phase II clinical trials, the failure of many Phase III clinical trials may be explained by insufficient drug targeting and retention, preventing the proper attainment of an observable dosage threshold. To address this challenge, nanoparticles can be functionalized to protect pharmacological payloads, improve targeted drug delivery to sites of injury, and can be combined with supportive scaffolding to improve secondary outcomes.

AREAS COVERED

This review briefly covers the pathophysiology of TBIs and their subtypes, the current pre-clinical and clinical management strategies, explores the common models of focal, diffuse, and mixed traumatic brain injury employed in experimental animals, and surveys the existing literature on nanoparticles developed to treat TBIs.

EXPERT OPINION

Nanoparticles are well suited to improve secondary outcomes as their multifunctionality and customizability enhance their potential for efficient targeted delivery, payload protection, increased brain penetration, low off-target toxicity, and biocompatibility in both acute and chronic timescales.

Intra-Epidural Space Injection of OX26-PEGylated Selenium Nanoparticles Enhances Motor Function and Decrease the Risk of Neural Damage in Animal Model of Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of PEGylated (PEG) OX26 loaded with Selenium (Se) on locomotor activity and brain function and exploring underlying mechanism in animal model of subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Methods: Thoracis spinal cord injury in Wistar rats was used to induce SAH and intra-epidural injection of OX26-PEG-Se nanoparticles (NPs) was then applied. Locomotor function test was used to evaluate the behavioral outcome in addition, ELISA kit was used to evaluate the serum level of NSE and S100B. Immunofluorescent imaging was used to detect the expression of eNOS and NT-1. In addition, NeuN staing was used to assess the neural damage. Results: The locomotor function of animals with SAH was significantly increase afgter treating with OX26-PEG-Se NPs. In addition, the expression levels of NSE and S100B were significantly decrease after treating animals with OX26-PEG-Se NPs in comparison to sham operated animals. We observed that OX26-PEG-Se NPs decrease the neural damage and the level of NT-1, while increase the eNOS in brain. Conclusion: Intra-epidural injection of OX26-PEG-Se NPs improved the locomotor activity and also inhibit the risk of neural damage through ET-1/eNOS pathway after subarachnoid hemorrhage.