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International Journal of Bioprinting OMT-loaded spinal cord scaffold

staining results of the nestin cells in and around the in-depth research and try to explore other tissues or organs
+
lesions in the scaffold group and scaffold + OMT group that can replace the ECM of the spinal cord.
indicated that some components of the composite scaffold
might positively affect the activation and migration of 5. Conclusion
endogenous NSCs. In addition, composite scaffolds could In this study, we fabricated PCL microfiber-reinforced
induce the differentiation of NSCs toward neurons and spinal cord ECM hydrogel-based scaffolds loaded with
promote their maturation. OMT has anti-inflammatory, OMT. The composite scaffolds promoted the differentiation
antioxidant, and anti-fibrosis effects. After the occurrence of of NSCs into neurons and inhibited the differentiation
SCI, inflammatory mediators and oxidizing substances will of NSCs into astrocytes. Composite scaffolds provided a
be produced at the injured site. The addition of OMT may suitable microenvironment for in vivo spinal cord tissue
inhibit further development of inflammation at the injured regeneration and guided the directional growth of axons.
site, and reportedly, OMT can promote the repair of SCI. OMT further promoted nerve regeneration and reduced the
Thus, the addition of OMT may promote nerve regeneration. formation of glial scaring around the lesions. In addition, the
After SCI, astrocytes at the lesion site and around the transplantation of a scaffold with OMT significantly improved
lesion usually proliferate and activate in large quantities the motor function of rats with SCI. This study suggests a
to form glial scars , which are undoubtedly a significant simple way to fabricate advanced materials with the required
[53]
obstacle to the regeneration of the central nervous system. composition, desirable topographical cues, and excellent
Most of the previous studies were focused on effectively therapeutic capability for the clinical treatment of SCI.
promoting nerve regeneration, whereas only a few studies
were focused on preventing glial scarring [54,55] . OMT is Acknowledgments
a Chinese patented medicine that inhibits the fibrosis of None.
various tissues and organs [35,56] . Relevant studies have
shown that intraperitoneal injection of different doses Funding
of OMT could promote recovery from SCI to different
degrees, but its effect on glial scars is unknown . This work was supported by National Natural Science
[36]
Therefore, we encapsulated OMT into composite scaffolds Foundation of China (Grant No. 32160209, 82160357
to explore whether it could inhibit glial scarring. The and 82071361), and Guangxi Key Laboratory of
results confirmed that the scaffold + OMT group had the Basic and Translational Research of Bone and Joint
least number of GFAP cells, indicating that OMT plays Degenerative Diseases, China (Grant No. 21-220-06).
+
a role in inhibiting glial scarring. Unlike previous studies Department of Education of Guangdong Province, China
that directly injected OMT into the lesion site to achieve (2021ZDZX2014), Key Science and Technology Project
only a short-term drug delivery, we loaded OMT into the of Social Development Foundation of Dongguan, China
hydrogel, which avoided its rapid removal from the body (20211800904542).
and achieved a sustained release.
Conflict of interest
Activation of microglia and production of various
cytokines after SCI leads to increased inflammatory response The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
and enhanced activation of TGF-β and Smad2 pathways .
[57]
The GF-β/Smad pathway contributes to scar formation Author contributions
and plays a role in recovery from injury, but excessive scar Conceptualization: Yujin Tang, Jia Liu
tissue formation can interfere with functional recovery . Formal analysis: Jing Zhou, Junming Wan, Xingchang
[58]
OMT can inhibit the TGF-β/Smad pathway [59,60] . Our study Zhao, Liqiang Wang
found an interesting phenomenon, that is, the release of Investigation: Shiqiang Song, Xingchang Zhao
OMT affects the differentiation direction of NSCs and Methodology: Chengliang Yang, Chuanchuan Zheng
can inhibit the expression of astrocytes, thus reducing the Supervision: Yujin Tang, Jia Liu
formation of the glial scar. We speculated that it may be Writing – original draft: Shiqiang Song
related to the TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway, which will Writing – review & editing: Chong Wang, Kai Li
be further studied in the future.
Ethics approval and consent to participate
One drawback of this study is that it is difficult to obtain
an ECM of the human spinal cord. Therefore, we resorted The animal experiments in this study were approved
to using ECM of the spinal cord in rats, which is relatively and agreed by the Animal Ethics Committee of Youjiang
easy to obtain. In the future, we will continue to conduct Medical University for Nationalities.

Volume 9 Issue 3 (2023) 115 https://doi.org/10.18063/ijb.692