TY - JOUR
T1 - Electroconductive poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) nanoparticle-loaded silk fibroin biocomposite conduits for peripheral nerve regeneration
AU - Escobar, Ane
AU - Serafin, Aleksandra
AU - Carvalho, Mariana R.
AU - Culebras, Mario
AU - Cantarero, Andres
AU - Beaucamp, Anne
AU - Reis, Rui L.
AU - Oliveira, J. Miguel
AU - Collins, Maurice N.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).
PY - 2023/6
Y1 - 2023/6
N2 - Peripheral nerve injury (PNI) often clinically relies on the use of nerve grafts taken from the patient to establish a therapeutic effect, though secondary site of injury and morbidity have prompted the medical community to find alternative solutions. A new trend in the development of biomaterials arises in the form of electro-conductive biomaterials, especially for electrically active tissues such as the peripheral nerves. In this work, novel poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) PEDOT nanoparticles (PEDOT NPs) were synthetized via the mini-emulsion method and were combined with silk fibroin (SF) to create conduits for PNI repair. The synthesized PEDOT NPs-loaded SF conduits showed optimal properties for peripheral nerve substitution from the physico-chemical and biological point of view. They displayed excellent mechanical and conductivity performance with the tensile moduli reaching 6.61 ± 0.55 MPa and the conduits reaching 5.4 · 10–4 S cm−1, respectively. The conduits did not possess apatite-forming capacity, which were resistant to bending occlusions for angles up to 50° and to suturing. The developed conduits are promising as a novel biomaterial for applications in peripheral nerve regeneration; in vitro experiments showed that they did not allow BJ fibroblast infiltration, avoiding scar tissue formation in the lumen, and they did not show any toxic effect for Schwann cells.
AB - Peripheral nerve injury (PNI) often clinically relies on the use of nerve grafts taken from the patient to establish a therapeutic effect, though secondary site of injury and morbidity have prompted the medical community to find alternative solutions. A new trend in the development of biomaterials arises in the form of electro-conductive biomaterials, especially for electrically active tissues such as the peripheral nerves. In this work, novel poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) PEDOT nanoparticles (PEDOT NPs) were synthetized via the mini-emulsion method and were combined with silk fibroin (SF) to create conduits for PNI repair. The synthesized PEDOT NPs-loaded SF conduits showed optimal properties for peripheral nerve substitution from the physico-chemical and biological point of view. They displayed excellent mechanical and conductivity performance with the tensile moduli reaching 6.61 ± 0.55 MPa and the conduits reaching 5.4 · 10–4 S cm−1, respectively. The conduits did not possess apatite-forming capacity, which were resistant to bending occlusions for angles up to 50° and to suturing. The developed conduits are promising as a novel biomaterial for applications in peripheral nerve regeneration; in vitro experiments showed that they did not allow BJ fibroblast infiltration, avoiding scar tissue formation in the lumen, and they did not show any toxic effect for Schwann cells.
KW - Conductivity
KW - Electroconductive polymers
KW - Nanoparticles
KW - Nerve guidance conduits
KW - Peripheral nerve regeneration
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85160735821&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s42114-023-00689-2
DO - 10.1007/s42114-023-00689-2
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85160735821
SN - 2522-0128
VL - 6
JO - Advanced Composites and Hybrid Materials
JF - Advanced Composites and Hybrid Materials
IS - 3
M1 - 118
ER -