Abstract

Biodegradable self-healing hydrogels are attractive materials for tissue repair; however, the impact of the self-healing abilities of hydrogels on tissue repair is not clear. In this study, we prepared novel chitosan–cellulose nanofiber (CS–CNF) composite self-healing hydrogels with the same modulus (approximately 2 kPa) but tunable self-healing properties. By adding a low amount of CNFs (0.06–0.15 wt%) in the pristine chitosan (CS) self-healing hydrogel, the reversible dynamic Schiff bonding, strain sensitivity, and self-healing of the hydrogel are obviously affected. Neural stem cells embedded in the CS–CNF hydrogel with better self-healing properties reveal significantly enhanced oxygen metabolism as well as neural differentiation. The differentiation of neural stem cells is highly correlated with their metabolic change in the self-healing hydrogel. Moreover, the neural regeneration effect of the optimized CS–CNF hydrogel with 0.09 wt% CNFs and the best self-healing properties show a 50% improvement over the pristine CS hydrogel in the zebrafish brain injury model. A mechanism is proposed to interpret the tunable self-healing properties of CS–CNF hydrogels with stiffness maintained in a similar range. The new self-healing hydrogels help to clarify the role of self-healing in the biological performance of hydrogels as well as provide design rationale for hydrogels with better injectability and tissue regeneration potential.

中文翻译：

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新型壳聚糖-纤维素纳米纤维自愈水凝胶将水凝胶的自愈特性与神经再生作用相关联

抽象的

可生物降解的自修复水凝胶是用于组织修复的有吸引力的材料。但是，水凝胶的自我修复能力对组织修复的影响尚不清楚。在这项研究中，我们制备了具有相同模量（约2 kPa）但可调节的自愈特性的新型壳聚糖-纤维素纳米纤维（CS-CNF）复合自愈水凝胶。通过在原始的壳聚糖（CS）自修复水凝胶中添加少量CNF（0.06-0.15 wt％），水凝胶的可逆动态席夫键，应变敏感性和自修复受到明显影响。嵌入CS-CNF水凝胶中的神经干细胞具有更好的自愈特性，显示出明显增强的氧代谢以及神经分化。神经干细胞的分化与其在自愈水凝胶中的代谢变化高度相关。此外，在斑马鱼脑损伤模型中，具有0.09 wt％CNF的最佳CS-CNF水凝胶的神经再生效果和最佳的自愈特性显示，其比原始CS水凝胶的神经再生效果提高了50％。提出了一种机制来解释CS-CNF水凝胶的可调自愈特性，其刚度保持在相似的范围内。新的自修复水凝胶有助于阐明自修复在水凝胶生物学性能中的作用，并为具有更好的可注射性和组织再生潜力的水凝胶提供设计依据。在斑马鱼脑损伤模型中，09 wt％的CNF和最佳的自愈性能显示比原始CS水凝胶提高了50％。提出了一种机制来解释CS-CNF水凝胶的可调自愈特性，其刚度保持在相似的范围内。新的自修复水凝胶有助于阐明自修复在水凝胶生物学性能中的作用，并为具有更好的可注射性和组织再生潜力的水凝胶提供设计依据。在斑马鱼脑损伤模型中，09 wt％的CNF和最佳的自愈性能显示比原始CS水凝胶提高了50％。提出了一种机制来解释CS-CNF水凝胶的可调自愈特性，其刚度保持在相似的范围内。新的自修复水凝胶有助于阐明自修复在水凝胶生物学性能中的作用，并为具有更好的可注射性和组织再生潜力的水凝胶提供设计依据。