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Development of a biodegradable scaffold for optic nerve radial guidance and transplant
The optic nerve is an important neuron that transmits visual signals to the brain. Damage to the nerve can result in permanent loss of vision even blindness. In recent years, studies have attempted to treat the injury by transplanting retinal ganglion cells (RGC), which attach to the surface of the retina and converge to create new optic nerves.
The study attempted to solve the problems with cell scaffolds by transplanting biodegradable cell scaffolds with RGCs. The cell scaffolds provide support and guidance, increasing cell survival and the chances of RGCs converging into the optic nerve. In the current study, there are no RGC cell scaffolds that are biodegradable, radial guided, and transplantable at the same time, which are suitable for RGC transplantation.
In this study, I designed a biodegradable scaffold with radially guidance for RGC transplantation. By improving the guiding structure, RGCs can be guided radially on the scaffold. The guidance effect is expressed by the percentage of RGCs offset from the structure by ≤10°. The percentage of RGCs ≤10° of the PLGA scaffold is 50.5%, which is better than the existing biodegradable radial guidance scaffolds (the percentage of RGCs ≤9° is 33%). The degradation time of PLGA scaffolds meet the requirements of transplantation. In conclusion, this scaffold can increase the probability of RGCs into optic nerves which could help future animal experiments on transplantation.