Red blood cell extracellular vesicles incorporated into 3D printed scaffolds for spinal cord injury regeneration

• Main Authors: Huang, Chongquan, Jayasinghe, Migara Kavishka, Lau, Kieran, Thi Nguyet Minh Le, Chew, Sing Yian
• Other Authors: School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: Engineering::Materials::Biomaterials; Gene Therapy; Spinal Cord Injury; 3D Printing
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/169728; https://ap2023.termis.org/
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Spinal cord injury, as a typical central nervous system injury, always leads to in severe morbidity and permanent disability. Among variety of treatment methods, gene therapy, especially RNA interference, is a promising treatment method with great potential to improve the cell regeneration capacity and to deplete detrimental factors in the injury sites. However, efficient delivery system is required for practical use. Theoretically, an ideal delivery system should be able to 1) help gene material to pass through the cell membrane and allow downstream function; 2) keep the gene material from degradation by endogenous enzymes; 3) enable long-term and sustained release of RNA to cover the process of tissue regeneration and 4) be biocompatible in physical and chemical properties to allow tissue regrowth. In this study, we extracted red blood cell extracellular vesicles (RBCEVs) and loaded siRNA/miRNA into them as the primary gene carrier to achieve 1) and 2). Thereafter, the RNA-loaded RBCEVs were incorporated into gelatin meth acryloyl (GelMA) solution for 3D printing, which could permit physical support and guidance for neural regeneration and act as a reservoir for gene materials.