TITLE: Engineering neural repair: advanced materials for spinal cord injury
Author: Esther Benayas - Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM-CSIC)
Supervised by: María Concepción Serrano López-Terradas (MaMBIO group - ICMM-CSIC)
When: January, 30 - 11 AM
Where: Salón de Actos, ICMM
ABSTRACT: Spinal cord injuries (SCIs) result in devastating and often irreversible loss of sensory, motor, and/or autonomic functions, for which no effective clinical therapy currently exists. The multifactorial pathophisiology of SCI – enconpassing neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, fibro-glial scar formation, and axonal growth inhibition, among others – requires innovative strategies that combine neuroprotection and neuroregeneration. In this thesis work, we have explored two complementary biomaterial-based approaches to address these challenges. First, we examined in vitro the neuroprotective potential of two magnetically responsive iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs), synthesized via distinct methodologies. Their impact on internalization, viability, differentiation, membrane fluidity, and lipidomic and transcriptomic profiles demonstrated that subtle variations in the nanoparticle structure and surface chemistry of these nanomaterials can profoundly modulate neuronal and glial cell fate, underscoring the importance of nanomaterial design for neural tissue engineering.
Then, we assessed the regenerative potential of 3D reduced graphene oxide (rGO) foams in vivo, by using two different models of SCI: a complete thoracic transection and a cervical hemisection. In the latter, rGO implantation was combined with a motor training routine to explore the impact of regenerative rehabilitation strategies including rGO. In the former thoracic model, we verified the regenerative features of rGO scaffolds, observing enhanced neurite regrowth and vascularization within the lesion site. In the cervical one, these positive outcomes were further potentiated by treadmill-based training, which boosted repair processes and systemic adaptations, including changes in muscle architecture and muscle fiber and mitochondrial content.
Collectively, these results support both the us of IONPs as candidate nanocarriers with neuroprotective actions and rGO scaffolds as regenerative substrates, advancing multimodal biomaterial-based strategies for SCI repair and encouraging further exploration of these biomaterials in this context.
