Angiogenic Hydrogel Biomaterials to Promote Nerve Regeneration

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0201744SchmidtThe long-term goal of this Investigator Initiated effort is to engineer improved therapies to aid peripheral nerve repair, with the hypothesis that vascularization at the site of nerve injury is a key step. The objectives of this project are to develop methods to modulate angiogenesis in a nerve repair model and to assess the relationship between new blood vessel growth and nerve fiber regeneration. Critical to the success of the project is formulation of a degradation resistant hydrogel containing hyaluronic acid (HA), a biological polymer that is known to promote angiogenesis but is broken down very quickly in the body. Specific aims are: 1) develop and characterize HA hydogels, 2) quantify and optimize the angiogenic potential of HA hydrogels, and 3) use the HA hydrogels to study the effects of varying vascularization on peripheral nerve regeneration via rat embryo dorsal root ganglion assays and in vivo rat sciatic nerve regeneration analyses.