Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a central nervous disorder that can result in permanent motor and sensory damage due to a severed communication pathway. Although there is currently no effective treatment, nerve guide tubes have been used to bridge the injured stumps and act as drug delivery systems. In this study, biosynthesized cellulose (BC) nerve guides were prepared, and nerve growth factor (NGF)—a model growth factor—was incorporated into the tubular nerve guide in order to obtain a nerve guide/drug delivery system to assist the regeneration. To achieve this, Gluconacetobacter hansenii was cultivated in a special bioreactor to produce biosynthesized cellulose tubes (BCTs) in situ, and the physical and mechanical properties of the BCTs obtained from different cultivation time points were evaluated. Our results showed that the properties of the BCTs were comparable to those of the native human neural tissues, and that the NGF released from the BCTs was bioactive for at least 7 days as evaluated by PC12 cell cultures in vitro. In summary, this study evaluated the use of BCT as a drug releasing nerve guide, and our results showed that the BCT is an attractive strategy to enhance nerve regeneration after the SCI.

中文翻译：

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生物合成纤维素管的生产和评估作为治疗脊髓损伤的有前途的神经导管。

脊髓损伤 (SCI) 是一种中枢神经疾病，由于交流通路中断，可导致永久性运动和感觉损伤。虽然目前没有有效的治疗方法，但神经导管已被用于桥接受伤的残肢并充当药物输送系统。在这项研究中，制备了生物合成纤维素 (BC) 神经导管，并将神经生长因子 (NGF)——一种模型生长因子——纳入管状神经导管，以获得神经导管/药物输送系统来辅助再生。为此，汉森葡糖乙酸杆菌在特殊的生物反应器中培养原位生产生物合成纤维素管（BCTs），并评估不同培养时间点获得的BCTs的物理和机械性能。我们的结果表明，BCTs 的特性与天然人类神经组织的特性相当，并且 BCTs 释放的 NGF 具有至少 7 天的生物活性，正如体外 PC12 细胞培养物所评估的那样。总之，本研究评估了 BCT 作为药物释放神经导向器的使用，我们的结果表明 BCT 是增强 SCI 后神经再生的有吸引力的策略。