Electrospun Hyaluronic Acid Scaffolds Containing Microspheres for Protein Delivery to Support Peripheral Nerve Growth

Peripheral nerve injury can cause lifelong pain, loss of function, and decreased quality of life. The gold standard of repair is a nerve autograft; however this requires additional surgeries and can cause donor site morbidity. As an alternative, nerve growth conduits are being developed to guide he existing nerves to cross these injured gaps. Electrospinning has emerged as a popular method to produce fibrous scaffolds for use in tissue engineering applications. However, limited work has been done electrospinning Hyaluronic Acid (HA) a major component of the extra cellular matrix. Cells respond to several factors in their environment including chemical, mechanical, topographical and adhesion cues.¹ Using electrospinning along with microspheres allows us to control mechanical, topographical, and chemical signals within our scaffold. Axons are known to respond to topographical cues, prefer ‘soft’ substrates and grow faster in the presence of Nerve Growth Factor (NGF). We can precisely control the mechanics of our scaffold by conjugating methacrylates to the HA backbone and crosslinking under UV light. We also use the rotation speed of the collection mandrel to create fibers that are aligned along one axis. Adhesivity is achieved by coating the finished scaffold with fibronectin. Microspheres are included to release protein and create a chemical signal. These characteristics combined mimic the natural environment of nervous tissue.