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Burrell JC, Vu PT, Alcott OJB, Toro CA, Cardozo C, Cullen DK. Orally administered boldine reduces muscle atrophy and promotes neuromuscular recovery in a rodent model of delayed nerve repair. Front Cell Neurosci 2023; 17:1240916. [PMID: 37829672 PMCID: PMC10565860 DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2023.1240916] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2023] [Accepted: 09/01/2023] [Indexed: 10/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Peripheral nerve injury often results in poor functional recovery due to a prolonged period of muscle denervation. In particular, absent axonal contact, denervated muscle can undergo irrevocable atrophy and diminished receptiveness for reinnervation over time, ultimately reducing the likelihood for meaningful neuromuscular recovery. While innovative surgical approaches can minimize the harmful effects of denervation by re-routing neighboring-otherwise uninjured-axons, there are no clinically-available approaches to preserve the reinnervation capacity of denervated muscles. Blocking intramuscular connexin hemichannel formation has been reported to improve muscle innervation in vitro and prevent atrophy in vivo. Therefore, the current study investigated the effects of orally administered boldine, a connexin hemichannel inhibitor, on denervated-related muscle changes and nerve regeneration in a rat model of delayed peripheral nerve repair. We found that daily boldine administration significantly enhanced an evoked response in the tibialis anterior muscle at 2 weeks after common peroneal nerve transection, and decreased intramuscular connexin 43 and 45 expression, intraneural Schwann cell expression of connexin 43, and muscle fiber atrophy up to 4 weeks post transection. Additional animals underwent a cross nerve repair procedure (tibial to common peroneal neurorrhaphy) at 4 weeks following the initial transection injury. Here, we found elevated nerve electrophysiological activity and greater muscle fiber maturation at 6 weeks post repair in boldine treated animals. These findings suggest that boldine may be a promising pharmacological approach to minimize the deleterious effects of prolonged denervation and, with further optimization, may improve levels of functional recovery following nerve repair.
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Affiliation(s)
- Justin C. Burrell
- Department of Neurosurgery, Center for Brain Injury and Repair, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
- Center for Neurotrauma, Neurodegeneration and Restoration, CMC VA Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA, United States
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Phuong T. Vu
- Center for Neurotrauma, Neurodegeneration and Restoration, CMC VA Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA, United States
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Owen J. B. Alcott
- Department of Biochemistry, Widener University, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Carlos A. Toro
- Spinal Cord Damage Research Center, James J. Peters VA Medical Center, Bronx, NY, United States
- Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai, New York, NY, United States
| | - Christopher Cardozo
- Spinal Cord Damage Research Center, James J. Peters VA Medical Center, Bronx, NY, United States
- Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai, New York, NY, United States
| | - D. Kacy Cullen
- Department of Neurosurgery, Center for Brain Injury and Repair, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
- Center for Neurotrauma, Neurodegeneration and Restoration, CMC VA Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA, United States
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
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Davaa G, Hong JY, Lee JH, Kim MS, Buitrago JO, Li YM, Lee HH, Han DW, Leong KW, Hyun JK, Kim HW. Delivery of Induced Neural Stem Cells Through Mechano-Tuned Silk-Collagen Hydrogels for the Recovery of Contused Spinal Cord in Rats. Adv Healthc Mater 2023; 12:e2201720. [PMID: 36447307 DOI: 10.1002/adhm.202201720] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2022] [Revised: 09/16/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022]
Abstract
Neural stem cells (NSC) have tremendous potential for therapeutic regeneration of diseased or traumatized neural tissues, including injured spinal cord. However, transplanted NSC suffer from low cell survival and uncontrolled differentiation, limiting in vivo efficacy. Here, this issue is tackled by delivery through silk-collagen protein hydrogels that are stiffness-matched, stress-relaxing, and shear-thinning. The mechanically-tuned hydrogels protect NSC reprogrammed from fibroblasts (iNSC) initially from injection shear-stress, and enhance long-term survival over 12 weeks. Hydrogel-iNSC treatment alleviates neural inflammation, with reduced inflammatory cells and lesions than NSC-only. The iNSC migrate from the hydrogel into surrounding tissues, secrete up-regulated neurotrophic factors, and differentiate into neural cell subtypes, forming synapses. More serotonergic axons are observed in the lesion cavity, and locomotor functions are improved in hydrogel-iNSC than in iNSC-only. This study highlights the ability of mechanically-tuned protein hydrogels to protect iNSC from the injection stress and severe inflammatory environment, allowing them to differentiate and function to recover the injured spinal cord.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ganchimeg Davaa
- Institute of Tissue Regeneration Engineering (ITREN), Dankook University, Cheonan, 31116, Republic of Korea.,Department of Nanobiomedical Science and BK21 NBM Global Research Center for Regenerative Medicine, Dankook University, Cheonan, 31116, Republic of Korea
| | - Jin Young Hong
- Institute of Tissue Regeneration Engineering (ITREN), Dankook University, Cheonan, 31116, Republic of Korea.,Department of Nanobiomedical Science and BK21 NBM Global Research Center for Regenerative Medicine, Dankook University, Cheonan, 31116, Republic of Korea
| | - Jung-Hwan Lee
- Institute of Tissue Regeneration Engineering (ITREN), Dankook University, Cheonan, 31116, Republic of Korea.,Department of Nanobiomedical Science and BK21 NBM Global Research Center for Regenerative Medicine, Dankook University, Cheonan, 31116, Republic of Korea.,Department of Biomaterials Science, School of Dentistry, Dankook University, Cheonan, 31116, Republic of Korea.,Cell & Matter Institute, Dankook University, Cheonan, 31116, Republic of Korea.,UCL Eastman-Korea Dental Medicine Innovation Centre, Dankook University, Cheonan, 31116, Republic of Korea.,Mechanobiology Dental Medicine Research Center, Dankook University, Cheonan, 31116, Republic of Korea
| | - Min Soo Kim
- Institute of Tissue Regeneration Engineering (ITREN), Dankook University, Cheonan, 31116, Republic of Korea.,Department of Nanobiomedical Science and BK21 NBM Global Research Center for Regenerative Medicine, Dankook University, Cheonan, 31116, Republic of Korea
| | - Jennifer O Buitrago
- Institute of Tissue Regeneration Engineering (ITREN), Dankook University, Cheonan, 31116, Republic of Korea.,Department of Nanobiomedical Science and BK21 NBM Global Research Center for Regenerative Medicine, Dankook University, Cheonan, 31116, Republic of Korea.,Basic Sciences Department, International University of Catalonia (UIC), Barcelona, 08017, Spain
| | - Yu-Meng Li
- Institute of Tissue Regeneration Engineering (ITREN), Dankook University, Cheonan, 31116, Republic of Korea.,Department of Nanobiomedical Science and BK21 NBM Global Research Center for Regenerative Medicine, Dankook University, Cheonan, 31116, Republic of Korea
| | - Hae-Hyoung Lee
- Institute of Tissue Regeneration Engineering (ITREN), Dankook University, Cheonan, 31116, Republic of Korea.,Department of Nanobiomedical Science and BK21 NBM Global Research Center for Regenerative Medicine, Dankook University, Cheonan, 31116, Republic of Korea.,Department of Biomaterials Science, School of Dentistry, Dankook University, Cheonan, 31116, Republic of Korea.,Cell & Matter Institute, Dankook University, Cheonan, 31116, Republic of Korea
| | - Dong Wook Han
- Konkuk University Open-Innovation Center, Institute of Biomedical Science & Technology, Konkuk University, Seoul, 143701, Republic of Korea
| | - Kam W Leong
- Department of Nanobiomedical Science and BK21 NBM Global Research Center for Regenerative Medicine, Dankook University, Cheonan, 31116, Republic of Korea.,Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA.,Department of Systems Biology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, 10032, USA
| | - Jung Keun Hyun
- Institute of Tissue Regeneration Engineering (ITREN), Dankook University, Cheonan, 31116, Republic of Korea.,Department of Nanobiomedical Science and BK21 NBM Global Research Center for Regenerative Medicine, Dankook University, Cheonan, 31116, Republic of Korea.,Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, College of Medicine, Dankook University, Cheonan, 31116, Republic of Korea.,Wiregene Co., Ltd., Cheonan, 31116, Republic of Korea
| | - Hae-Won Kim
- Institute of Tissue Regeneration Engineering (ITREN), Dankook University, Cheonan, 31116, Republic of Korea.,Department of Nanobiomedical Science and BK21 NBM Global Research Center for Regenerative Medicine, Dankook University, Cheonan, 31116, Republic of Korea.,Department of Biomaterials Science, School of Dentistry, Dankook University, Cheonan, 31116, Republic of Korea.,Cell & Matter Institute, Dankook University, Cheonan, 31116, Republic of Korea.,UCL Eastman-Korea Dental Medicine Innovation Centre, Dankook University, Cheonan, 31116, Republic of Korea.,Mechanobiology Dental Medicine Research Center, Dankook University, Cheonan, 31116, Republic of Korea
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Smith DH, Burrell JC, Browne KD, Katiyar KS, Ezra MI, Dutton JL, Morand JP, Struzyna LA, Laimo FA, Chen HI, Wolf JA, Kaplan HM, Rosen JM, Ledebur HC, Zager EL, Ali ZS, Cullen DK. Tissue-engineered grafts exploit axon-facilitated axon regeneration and pathway protection to enable recovery after 5-cm nerve defects in pigs. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2022; 8:eabm3291. [PMID: 36332027 PMCID: PMC9635828 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abm3291] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2021] [Accepted: 09/16/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Functional restoration following major peripheral nerve injury (PNI) is challenging, given slow axon growth rates and eventual regenerative pathway degradation in the absence of axons. We are developing tissue-engineered nerve grafts (TENGs) to simultaneously "bridge" missing nerve segments and "babysit" regenerative capacity by providing living axons to guide host axons and maintain the distal pathway. TENGs were biofabricated using porcine neurons and "stretch-grown" axon tracts. TENG neurons survived and elicited axon-facilitated axon regeneration to accelerate regrowth across both short (1 cm) and long (5 cm) segmental nerve defects in pigs. TENG axons also closely interacted with host Schwann cells to maintain proregenerative capacity. TENGs drove regeneration across 5-cm defects in both motor and mixed motor-sensory nerves, resulting in dense axon regeneration and electrophysiological recovery at levels similar to autograft repairs. This approach of accelerating axon regeneration while maintaining the pathway for long-distance regeneration may achieve recovery after currently unrepairable PNIs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Douglas H. Smith
- Center for Brain Injury and Repair, Department of Neurosurgery, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Axonova Medical LLC, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Justin C. Burrell
- Center for Brain Injury and Repair, Department of Neurosurgery, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Center for Neurotrauma, Neurodegeneration and Restoration, Corporal Michael J. Crescenz Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Department of Bioengineering, School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Kevin D. Browne
- Center for Brain Injury and Repair, Department of Neurosurgery, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Center for Neurotrauma, Neurodegeneration and Restoration, Corporal Michael J. Crescenz Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Kritika S. Katiyar
- Center for Brain Injury and Repair, Department of Neurosurgery, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Axonova Medical LLC, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Center for Neurotrauma, Neurodegeneration and Restoration, Corporal Michael J. Crescenz Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Mindy I. Ezra
- Center for Brain Injury and Repair, Department of Neurosurgery, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - John L. Dutton
- Center for Brain Injury and Repair, Department of Neurosurgery, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Joseph P. Morand
- Center for Brain Injury and Repair, Department of Neurosurgery, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Laura A. Struzyna
- Center for Brain Injury and Repair, Department of Neurosurgery, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Center for Neurotrauma, Neurodegeneration and Restoration, Corporal Michael J. Crescenz Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Department of Bioengineering, School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Franco A. Laimo
- Center for Brain Injury and Repair, Department of Neurosurgery, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Center for Neurotrauma, Neurodegeneration and Restoration, Corporal Michael J. Crescenz Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - H. Isaac Chen
- Center for Brain Injury and Repair, Department of Neurosurgery, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Center for Neurotrauma, Neurodegeneration and Restoration, Corporal Michael J. Crescenz Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - John A. Wolf
- Center for Brain Injury and Repair, Department of Neurosurgery, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Center for Neurotrauma, Neurodegeneration and Restoration, Corporal Michael J. Crescenz Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Hilton M. Kaplan
- New Jersey Center for Biomaterials, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA
| | - Joseph M. Rosen
- Division of Plastic Surgery, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Dartmouth College, Lebanon, NH, USA
| | | | - Eric L. Zager
- Center for Brain Injury and Repair, Department of Neurosurgery, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Zarina S. Ali
- Center for Brain Injury and Repair, Department of Neurosurgery, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Center for Neurotrauma, Neurodegeneration and Restoration, Corporal Michael J. Crescenz Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - D. Kacy Cullen
- Center for Brain Injury and Repair, Department of Neurosurgery, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Axonova Medical LLC, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Center for Neurotrauma, Neurodegeneration and Restoration, Corporal Michael J. Crescenz Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Department of Bioengineering, School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
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