@article {20095, title = {Promotion of peripheral nerve regeneration with optogenetic neuromuscular stimulation}, journal = {1st Discoveries Forum on Regenerative and Precision Medicine}, year = {2019}, month = {2019-09-25 00:00:00}, abstract = {

Injuries of PNS are a major source of disabilities; the mobility of muscles gets impaired, sensations suffer distortions and can lead to painful neuropathies. For the functional recovery of the muscle, the time-lapse between the traumatic event and the regeneration of the nerve plays a key role.

The aim of the work is to achieve a peripheral motor nerve regeneration with a complete neuromuscular functional recovery. The dual strategy that is going to be followed consists in the acceleration of nerve regeneration and the simultaneous muscular stimulation.

A bi-compartmentalized silk fibroin nerve guidance conduit will be developed.1 The first compartment will contain VEGFb in the wall and CMCht/PAMAM dendrimeric NPs containing GDNF within the hydrogel.2 The second compartment will also contain VEGFb, but in doubled concentration. The same NPs will be used to transfect neurons with a plasmid encoding ChR, a photosensitive protein for the electrical stimulation of the muscle, also included in the second compartment.

1.\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \  Carvalho, C. R. et al. Tunable Enzymatically Cross-Linked Silk Fibroin Tubular Conduits for Guided Tissue Regeneration. Adv. Healthc. Mater. 7, 1800186 (2018).

2.\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \  Carvalho, M. R. et al. A semiautomated microfluidic platform for real-time investigation of nanoparticles{\textquoteright} cellular uptake and cancer cells{\textquoteright} tracking. Nanomedicine 12, 581{\textendash}596 (2017).

J. M. Oliveira would like to thank to FCT for the fund provided under the program Investigador FCT 2015 (IF/01285/2015). This work is funded by the R\&D Project NanOptoNerv - Nano-accelerated nerve regeneration and optogenetic empowering of neuromuscular functionality, with reference PTDC/NAN-MAT/29936/2017, financed by FCT.

}, keywords = {nerve guidance conduit, nerve regeneration, nerve repair, Tissue Engineering \& Regenerative Medicine}, author = {Escobar, A. and Carvalho, M. R. and Carvalho, C. R. and Reis, R. L. and Silva, T. H. and Oliveira, J. M.} }