Autograft-matching wireless bioelectronic conduits: Magneto-electric coupling enabled taurine metabolism activation for peripheral nerve repair

Peripheral nerve injuries remain a clinical challenge due to the limitations of autografts and unstable electrical signals in existing bioelectronic therapies. It is necessary to develop innovative strategies to achieve wireless, controllable peripheral neural regeneration (PNR). In this study, we developed a magneto-electric coupling-driven electroactive nerve guidance conduits (PCLG/AgNF NGCs) with a moving magnetic field (MMF) for PNR with wireless magneto-electric coupling electrical stimulation (MECES). PCLG/AgNF displayed high conductivity (25.48 ± 3.77 S/cm) and wireless controllability of generating electrical pulses (16.67 ± 0.47 μA to 475.7 ± 9.71 μA) with an MMF. The MECES produced by PCLG/AgNF with the MMF significantly promoted cell proliferation, cell migration, and upregulated the expression of β3-tubulin, neurofilament heavy chain and growth-associated protein 43, compared to PCLG/AgNF and MMF used individually. Mechanistically, we identified that PCLG/AgNF with the MMF activated the metabolism of taurine and hypotaurine corroborated by elevated intracellular taurine, which is crucial for MECES mediated repair processes. In a rat peripheral nerve defect model, the PCLG/AgNF NGCs with the MMF showed promising results in nerve regrowth, myelination, and functional recovery, performing comparably to autografts. This strategy offers PCLG/AgNF NGCs as a wireless, controllable, precision-enabled approach and provides novel insights for the effective PNR.