摘要
Angiogenesis plays an important role in brain injury repair,which contributes to the reconstruction of regenerative neurovascular niche for promoting axonal regeneration in the lesion area.As a major component of developing brain extracellular matrix,hyaluronic acid(HA)has attracted more attention as a supporting matrix for brain repair.In the present study,HA-KLT hydrogel was developed via modifying HA with a VEGF mimetic peptide of KLT(KLTWQELYQLKYKGI).The characterization of the hydrogel shows that it could provide a porous,three-dimensional scaffold structure,which has a large specific surface area available for cell adhesion and interaction.Compared with the unmodified HA hydrogel,the HA-KLT hydrogel could effectively promote the attachment,spreading and proliferation of endothelial cells in vitro.Furthermore,the pro-angiogenic ability of hydrogels in vivo was evaluated by implanting them into the lesion cavities in the injured rat brain.Our results showed that the hydrogels could form a permissive interface with the host tissues at 4 weeks after implantation.Moreover,they could efficiently inhibit the formation of glial scars at the injured sites.The HA-KLT hydrogel could significantly increase the expression of endoglin/CD105 and promote the formation of blood vessels,suggesting that HA-KLT hydrogel promoted angiogenesis in vivo.Collectively,the HA-KLT hydrogel has the potential to repair brain defects by promoting angiogenesis and inhibiting the formation of glial-derived scar tissue.
基金
the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31771056 and 81200931)
the Tsinghua University Initiative Scientific Research Program(20161080091)
the 111 Project(B17026)
a special fund from Key laboratory of Neurodegenerative diseases,Ministry of Education(PXM2019_026283_000002).