Journal
BIOMATERIALS
Volume 35, Issue 13, Pages 3919-3925Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2014.01.038
Keywords
Gliosis; Implant; FBR; Astrocyte; Microglia; Stiffness
Funding
- Cambridge Overseas Trust
- UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
- European Union
- MRC Centre for Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders
- UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
- Christopher and Dana Reeves Foundation
- Human Frontier Science Program
- Marie Curie Initial Training Network Transpol
- Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
- UK Medical Research Council
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council [BB/H021930/1] Funding Source: researchfish
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council [EP/H00727X/1] Funding Source: researchfish
- Medical Research Council [1508875, G1100312, G1000864] Funding Source: researchfish
- BBSRC [BB/H021930/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- EPSRC [EP/H00727X/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- MRC [G1000864, G1100312] Funding Source: UKRI
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Devices implanted into the body become encapsulated due to a foreign body reaction. In the central nervous system (CNS), this can lead to loss of functionality in electrodes used to treat disorders. Around CNS implants, glial cells are activated, undergo gliosis and ultimately encapsulate the electrodes. The primary cause of this reaction is unknown. Here we show that the mechanical mismatch between nervous tissue and electrodes activates glial cells. Both primary rat microglial cells and astrocytes responded to increasing the contact stiffness from physiological values (G' similar to 100 Pa) to shear moduli G' >= 10 kPa by changes in morphology and upregulation of inflammatory genes and proteins. Upon implantation of composite foreign bodies into rat brains, foreign body reactions were significantly enhanced around their stiff portions in vivo. Our results indicate that CNS glial cells respond to mechanical cues, and suggest that adapting the surface stiffness of neural implants to that of nervous tissue could minimize adverse reactions and improve biocompatibility. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available