Kong Xian-Bin, Tang Qiu-Yan, Chen Xu-Yi, Tu Yue, Sun Shi-Zhong, Sun Zhong-Lei
Department of Brain, Affiliated Hospital of China Logistics College of People's Armed Police Forces, Tianjin, China.
Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China.
Neural Regen Res. 2017 Jun;12(6):1003-1008. doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.208597.
Polyethylene glycol is a synthetic, biodegradable, and water-soluble polyether. Owing to its good biological and material properties, polyethylene glycol shows promise in spinal cord tissue engineering applications. Although studies have examined repairing spinal cord injury with polyethylene glycol, these compelling findings have not been recently reviewed or evaluated as a whole. Thus, we herein review and summarize the findings of studies conducted both within and beyond China that have examined the repair of spinal cord injury using polyethylene glycol. The following summarizes the results of studies using polyethylene glycol alone as well as coupled with polymers or hydrogels: (1) polyethylene glycol as an adjustable biomolecule carrier resists nerve fiber degeneration, reduces the inflammatory response, inhibits vacuole and scar formation, and protects nerve membranes in the acute stage of spinal cord injury. (2) Polyethylene glycol-coupled polymers not only promote angiogenesis but also carry drugs or bioactive molecules to the injury site. Because such polymers cross both the blood-spinal cord and blood-brain barriers, they have been widely used as drug carriers. (3) Polyethylene glycol hydrogels have been used as supporting substrates for the growth of stem cells after injury, inducing cell migration, proliferation, and differentiation. Simultaneously, polyethylene glycol hydrogels isolate or reduce local glial scar invasion, promote and guide axonal regeneration, cross the transplanted area, and re-establish synaptic connections with target tissue, thereby promoting spinal cord repair. On the basis of the reviewed studies, we conclude that polyethylene glycol is a promising synthetic material for use in the repair of spinal cord injury.
聚乙二醇是一种合成的、可生物降解的水溶性聚醚。由于其良好的生物学和材料特性，聚乙二醇在脊髓组织工程应用中显示出前景。尽管已有研究探讨了聚乙二醇对脊髓损伤的修复作用，但这些引人注目的研究结果最近尚未得到全面的综述或评估。因此，我们在此综述并总结了国内外有关使用聚乙二醇修复脊髓损伤的研究结果。以下总结了单独使用聚乙二醇以及与聚合物或水凝胶结合使用的研究结果：（1）聚乙二醇作为一种可调节的生物分子载体，可抵抗神经纤维退变，减轻炎症反应，抑制空泡和瘢痕形成，并在脊髓损伤急性期保护神经膜。（2）聚乙二醇偶联聚合物不仅促进血管生成，还能将药物或生物活性分子输送到损伤部位。由于此类聚合物可穿越血脊髓屏障和血脑屏障，因此已被广泛用作药物载体。（3）聚乙二醇水凝胶已被用作损伤后干细胞生长的支持基质，诱导细胞迁移、增殖和分化。同时，聚乙二醇水凝胶可隔离或减少局部胶质瘢痕侵袭，促进和引导轴突再生，穿越移植区域，并与靶组织重新建立突触连接，从而促进脊髓修复。基于所综述的研究，我们得出结论，聚乙二醇是一种用于修复脊髓损伤的有前景的合成材料。
