title: Effect of an inductive hydrogel composed of urinary bladder matrix upon functional recovery following traumatic brain injury.
abstract: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major public health problem with no effective clinical treatment. Use of bioactive scaffold materials has been shown to be a promising strategy for tissue regeneration and repair in a number of injury models. Of these scaffold materials, urinary bladder matrix (UBM) derived from porcine bladder tissue, has demonstrated desirable properties for supporting and promoting the growth of neural cells in vitro, suggesting its potential as a scaffold for brain tissue repair in the treatment of TBI. Herein we evaluate the biocompatibility of UBM within brain tissue and the effects of UBM delivery upon functional outcome following TBI. A hydrogel form of UBM was injected into healthy rat brains for 1, 3, and 21 days to examine the tissue response to UBM. Multiple measures of tissue injury, including reactive astrocytosis, microglial activation, and neuron degeneration showed that UBM had no deleterious effects on normal brain. Following TBI, the brains were evaluated histologically and behaviorally between sham-operated controls and UBM- and vehicle-treated groups. Application of UBM reduced lesion volume and attenuated trauma-induced myelin disruption. Importantly, UBM treatment resulted in significant neurobehavioral recovery following TBI as demonstrated by improvements in vestibulomotor function; however, no differences in cognitive recovery were observed between the UBM- and vehicle-treated groups. The present study demonstrated that UBM is not only biocompatible within the brain tissue, but also can exert protective effects upon injured brain.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261, USA.
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Zhongfang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Weng
authors.forename: Bryan N
authors.initials: BN
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Hongqu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Xiecheng Michelle
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Peter S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Vosler
authors.forename: Stephen F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Badylak
authors.forename: C Edward
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Dixon
authors.forename: Xinyan Tracy
authors.initials: XT
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000378:metabolism / Q000628:therapy*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D020136:Hydrogel, Polyethylene Glycol Dimethacrylate / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D013552:Swine; D001743:Urinary Bladder / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D020136:Hydrogel, Polyethylene Glycol Dimethacrylate