Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, 240 Skirkanich Hall, 210 S. 33rd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
Wiley Interdiscip Rev Nanomed Nanobiotechnol. 2009 Jan-Feb;1(1):128-139. doi: 10.1002/wnan.10.
Neurotrophins have been implicated in a variety of diseases and their delivery to sites of disease and injury has therapeutic potential in applications including spinal cord injury, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease. Biodegradable polymers, and specifically, biodegradable water-swollen hydrogels, may be advantageous as delivery vehicles for neurotrophins because of tissue-like properties, tailorability with respect to degradation and release behavior, and a history of biocompatibility. These materials may be designed to degrade via hydrolytic or enzymatic mechanisms and can be used for the sustained delivery of trophic factors in vivo. Hydrogels investigated to date include purely synthetic to purely natural, depending on the application and intended release profiles. Also, flexibility in material processing has allowed for the investigation of injectable materials, the development of scaffolding and porous conduits, and the use of composites for tailored molecule delivery profiles. It is the objective of this review to describe what has been accomplished in this area thus far and to remark on potential future directions in this field. Ultimately, the goal is to engineer optimal biomaterials to deliver molecules in a controlled and dictated manner that can promote regeneration and healing for numerous neural applications.
神经生长因子在多种疾病中都有涉及，将其递送到疾病和损伤部位具有治疗潜力，可应用于包括脊髓损伤、阿尔茨海默病和帕金森病在内的多种疾病。可生物降解聚合物，特别是可生物降解的水溶胀水凝胶，可用作神经生长因子的递药载体，因为它们具有类似组织的特性、可针对降解和释放行为进行定制以及具有生物相容性的历史。这些材料可通过水解或酶促机制进行设计，可用于在体内持续递送电营养因子。迄今为止研究过的水凝胶包括完全合成的和完全天然的，具体取决于应用和预期的释放曲线。此外，材料加工的灵活性还允许研究可注射材料、支架和多孔导管的开发，以及复合材料在定制分子递药谱中的应用。本综述的目的是描述迄今为止在这一领域取得的成就，并评论该领域未来的潜在方向。最终目标是设计出最佳的生物材料，以可控和规定的方式递送电营养因子，从而促进多种神经应用的再生和愈合。
