Numerous studies report on how diverse techniques may be used to immobilize NGF onto neural scaffolds. Among various newly-developed procedures, crosslinking is commonly used for immobilization, in which the choice of cross-linkers is an essential step. Compared with many traditional cross-linkers (e.g. glutaraldehyde and carbodiimide), genipin, a natural agent with low toxicity, has many advantages. Genipin was used to crosslink the biomaterial chitosan and then immobilize NGF onto the modified chitosan, which was further processed into a NGC. A series of in vitro tests suggested that continuous release of NGF from such systems may be applicable for peripheral nerve repair [177]. An in vivo study was subsequently reported, in which this type of NGC was used to bridge a 10 mm long sciatic nerve gap in rats and the release system of NGF aided peripheral nerve repair [178]. Similar reports have also tested the use of genipin in NGF crosslinking[179,180].Photochemical reactions are used to immobilize NGF and tirofiban (a nonpeptide glycoprotein IIb/IIIa antagonist) onto the surface of PCL-based NGC, which effectively promoted the regeneration of injured nerves in a rat long nerve gap injury model [181]. Photochemical techniques were also adopted to immobilize NGF and another activator onto neural scaffolds, which showed the promoting effects on the growth and neuron-like differentiations of PC12 cells in vitro [182].Coaxial electrospinning was used to immobilize NGF onto the aligned coreeshell nanofibers, which were then inserted to a PLGAbased NGC to construct a TENG for bridging a 13 mm long sciatic nerve gap in rats, and peripheral nerve regeneration was promoted by controlled release of NGF [183]. Coaxial electrospinning was also adopted to prepare NGF-containing, PLC-based neural scaffolds for bridging a 10 mm long sciatic nerve gap in rats, achieving favorable outcomes of peripheral nerve repair [184]. Also, differential adsorption was able to introduce NGF gradients into neural scaffolds, and NGF gradient-immobilized TENGs produced improvements in morphological and functional restoration in a rat 14 mm long sciatic nerve gap model [185].4. Potential use of RNA interferenceRNA interference (RNAi) refers to the silencing of a particular gene by using a double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) with homologous sequences to that of the target mRNA [186]. Since it was first discovered in 1990s [187], RNAi has attracted much attention as a research tool to control the expression of specific genes in living cells. Also there is interest in its use as a concomitant therapeutic strategy to inhibit target gene expression in many devastating diseases and injuries because of its high sequence specificity and capability of inducing robust and potent knockdown of target genes [188,189]. Here we are interested in the question of whether RNAi strategy is also applicable for the understanding and treatment of peripheral nerve injury.To trigger RNAi, the long dsRNA molecule (100e700 nucleotide long) can be cleaved into smaller dsRNA molecules (w21 nucleotide long with 2 nucleotide 30 overhangs), called short interfering RNAs (siRNAs), with the help of Dicer, an RNAse III enzyme. Then siRNAs are incorporated into a multiprotein RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC), and the activated RISC further recognizes and cleaves the mRNA that is complementary to the siRNA. On the other hand, RNAi can also be triggered by microRNAs (miRNAs), which regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level in cells.
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