A nanobiotechnological approach to promote sciatic nerve regeneration.

PAULA A, SOTO; MARIANELA VENCE; GONZALO PIÑERO; VANINA USACH; MARCELA FERNANDEZ VAN RAAP; CLARA P. SETTON

Virtual

Congreso; XXXV Congreso Anual Sociedad Argentina de Neurociencias (SAN), virtual; 2020

Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias

A nanobiotechnological approach to promote sciatic nerve regeneration.Traumatic peripheral nerve injuries constitute a huge concern to public health, as damage leads to a decrease or even loss of sensitivity and mobility of the innervated area. Among cell therapies explored with encouraging outcomes, adult stem cells have advantageous characteristics and are thus promising agents in nerve regeneration. In this work, we propose a strategy for cell therapy enhancement by magnetic targeting in an in vivo Wallerian degeneration model. To this end, adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AdMSC) were loaded with superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs), systemically transplanted and magnetically recruited into the injured sciatic nerve. AdMSC incubation with 100 µgFe/mLDMEM nanoparticles resulted in the incorporation of 5.0 ± 0.2 pgFe/cell without affecting cell viability. Intravenous injection of AdMSC or AdMSC-SPIONs immediately after sciatic nerve compression revealed cell arrival at the lesion site 7 days post-injury. Transmission electronic microscopy results show the presence of SPIONs in the injured nerves. Systemically transplanted, magnetically recruited AdMSC-SPIONs induced a recovery in the number of myelinated axons and myelin basic protein organization, indicative of remyelination, and in nerve conduction, a sign of functional recovery. In sum, our results show magnetically assisted delivery of AdMSC as a promising strategy to promote cell arrival and recruitment and enhance sciatic nerve regeneration after traumatic injury.