Induced neuro-vascular interactions robustly enhance functional attributes of engineered neural implants

Biomaterials
Erez ShorShulamit Levenberg

Abstract

Engineered neural implants have a myriad of potential basic science and clinical neural repair applications. Although there are implants that are currently undergoing their first clinical investigations, optimizing their long-term viability and efficacy remain an open challenge. Functional implants with pre-vascularization of various engineered tissues have proven to enhance post-implantation host integration, and well-known synergistic neural-vascular interplays suggest that this strategy could also be promising for neural tissue engineering. Here, we report the development of a novel bio-engineered neuro-vascular co-culture construct, and demonstrate that it exhibits enhanced neurotrophic factor expression, and more complex neuronal morphology. Crucially, by introducing genetically encoded calcium indicators (GECIs) into the co-culture, we are able to monitor functional activity of the neural network, and demonstrate greater activity levels and complexity as a result of the introduction of endothelial cells in the construct. The presence of this enhanced activity could putatively lead to superior integration outcomes. Indeed, leveraging on the ability to monitor the construct's development post-implantation with GECIs, we obs...Continue Reading

Citations

Sep 10, 2020·Advanced Healthcare Materials·Shaowei GuoShulamit Levenberg
Dec 14, 2021·Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology·Sepehr ShafieeHassan Niknejad

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