Delivery of Neurotrophic factors in a Silk-based Nerve Conduit for Peripheral Nerve Repair

As a promising alternative to autologous nerve grafts, tissue-engineered conduits have been extensively studied as a technique to bridge peripheral nerve defects and guide nerve regeneration. However, the lack of neurotrophic factors in axonal retrograde transport following peripheral nerve injury is one of the factors causing the incomplete and deficient nerve regeneration and consequent incomplete functional recovery [1]. In this work, a new methodology developed by our group to produce silk conduits was used [2], allowing to manufacture novel and tunable silk-based tubular conduits, recurring to an enzymatically-crosslinked silk fibroin hydrogel. Since it has been established before that exogenous supply of neurotrophic factors support the survival of neurons [3], we have developed silk nerve conduits capable of incorporating and releasing both Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) or Glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF).