Neural repair within the central nervous system (CNS) has been extremely challenging due to limited abilities of adult CNS neurons to regenerate, particularly in a highly inflammatory injury environment that is also filled with myelin debris. Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a serious medical condition that often leads to paralysis and currently has no effective treatment. Here we report the construction of a novel biocompatible and biodegradable material, Bio-C, through coating of acid-desalted-collagen (ADC) tube with pre-modified hyaluronic acid, which, after implantation, can elicit quite robust neural regeneration and functional recovery after complete spinal-cord transection with a 2 mm-spinal-cord-segment removal in mice. We combined morphological, electrophysiological, and objective transcriptomic analyses, in addition to behavioral analyses, to demonstrate neural tissue regeneration and functional recovery through the establishment of Bio-C-induced anti-inflammatory, neurogenic, and neurotrophic microenvironment. Through this study, we unveiled the underlying logic for CNS neural repair.
Keywords: ADC; Bio-C; anti-inflammatory; neurotrophic; spinal cord injury (SCI).