Electrospun SF/GO/VEGF/GAS-LP scaffolds with synergistic sequential drug release and electrical stimulation for accelerated peripheral nerve regeneration

AbstractHere, a novel kind of composite scaffold was fabricated by loading vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and gastrodin liposome (GAS-LP) into electrospun silk fibroin/graphene oxide(SF/GO)nanofibrous and silk fibroin sponge-filled, respectively. Our results demonstrated that VEGF and GAS exhibited different release patterns in vitro which VEGF showed rapid release rate in the first few days while GAS was released slowly and continuously as encapsulated in liposomes. The scaffolds realized the combination of intraneural vascularization drugs and electrical stimulation effectively, leading to enhanced growth of RSC96 cells. Furthermore, the scaffolds could protect RSC96 cells in an inflammatory environment.Keywords: Drug releaseelectrical stimulationgraphene oxideNerve scaffoldsilk fibroin Disclosure statementThe authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.Additional informationFundingThe financial support was from the Knowledge Innovation Program of Wuhan -Basic Research (20221j0034), National innovation and entrepreneurship training program for college students (202310497043, 202310497045, and S202310497124), and the General Hospital of Central Theater Command of PLA (ZZYZD202103 and 18QNP054), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82102888).