Smart-responsive electrospun scaffolds (SRES) for neural repair: Recent advances and future prospects.
Smart-responsive electrospun scaffolds represent a promising avenue for neural repair, but further research is needed to translate these findings into clinical practice.
Where it sits
this study against the rest of the pt-141 (bremelanotide) corpusSummary and findings
The paper reviews smart-responsive electrospun scaffolds (SRES) for neural repair, focusing on their application in traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, and peripheral nerve injury. It highlights the scaffolds' ability to sense pathological signals and modulate repair conditions. The review integrates recent advancements and identifies future research directions.
Abstract
Neurological injuries trigger complex, multi-stage pathological cascades, while traditional clinical interventions such as drug therapy and surgical decompression can only alleviate symptoms rather than reconstruct damaged neural circuits. Conventional repair approaches face multiple limitations, including the inherently weak regenerative ability of central nervous neurons, glial scar formation post-injury, shortage of autologous nerve grafts, donor site secondary trauma and tissue size mismatch, which urgently demand novel regenerative therapeutic strategies. Tissue-engineered artificial nerve implants have opened new avenues for neural repair, among which smart-responsive electrospun scaffolds (SRES) stand out for their unique biomimetic advantage of actively sensing pathological microenvironment signals and dynamically modulating local repair conditions, greatly expanding the development of neural regenerative medicine. Benefiting from electrospinning technology, SRES have been developed targeting traumatic brain injury (TBI), spinal cord injury (SCI) and peripheral nerve injury (PNI), which realize spatiotemporally controllable drug release, biomimetic extracellular matrix construction and in-situ neuromodulation. However, a comprehensive and systematic review that integrates these scattered advancements to provide guidance for researchers remains absent. This review firstly elaborates the pathological characteristics of three typical neural injuries (TBI, SCI, PNI) and the endogenous self-repair defects of neural tissues. Afterwards, it systematically summarizes the classification of electrospinning technologies, fabrication methodologies, responsive mechanisms, and classifications of SRES, further focuses on their recent application progress in neural regeneration via bibliometric big data analysis over the past decade, critically analyzes current limitations and prospective research trends, and underscores the necessity of developing tailored electrospun smart-responsive materials, thereby offering an authoritative reference for advancing neural regeneration engineering and regenerative medicine.
Background
Neurological injuries such as traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, and peripheral nerve injury present significant challenges due to the limited regenerative capacity of central nervous neurons and the formation of glial scars. Traditional interventions often fail to reconstruct damaged neural circuits, necessitating innovative approaches. Smart-responsive electrospun scaffolds (SRES) have emerged as a promising strategy due to their ability to dynamically interact with the pathological microenvironment and enhance neural repair.
Methods
This paper is a review article that compiles and analyzes existing literature on smart-responsive electrospun scaffolds (SRES) for neural repair. It includes a bibliometric analysis of research progress over the past decade. The review categorizes electrospinning technologies, fabrication methodologies, and the responsive mechanisms of SRES, focusing on their application in neural regeneration.
Results
Not reported in abstract.
Interpretation
The review highlights the potential of SRES in advancing neural regeneration by offering a biomimetic approach to repair. While the scaffolds show promise in preclinical settings, the review underscores the need for further research to address current limitations and to develop tailored materials for specific neural injuries. The absence of new experimental data limits the ability to assess clinical applicability directly.
Key findings
- SRES enable spatiotemporally controllable drug release.
- SRES facilitate biomimetic extracellular matrix construction.
- SRES support in-situ neuromodulation.
- The review includes a bibliometric analysis over the past decade.
Limitations
- No new experimental data presented.
- Focuses on existing literature rather than original research.
- Lacks clinical trial results.
- Primarily preclinical focus.