Adhesive and conductive hydrogel-based therapy simultaneously targeting neuroinflammation and neurofunctional damage after brain injury

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) caused by mechanical injury, neuroinflammation, and neurological degeneration is highly lethal and could result in disability and death. Here, we report an adhesive and conductive hydrogel-based therapy to simultaneously target the complexity of TBI pathogenesis and poor neuron regeneration ability of the brain tissue. The hydrogel is soft and strongly adhesive to brain tissue, which provides mechanical support to retard brain swelling and brain atrophy in a controlled cortical impact-induced moderate TBI of mice model. Furthermore, the hydrogel exhibits antioxidative ability to reduce oxidative damage and suppress the neuroinflammation response via attenuating the activation of NF-κB signaling pathway, thus providing neuroprotection for neuron survival. Meanwhile, the hydrogel with high conductivity replicates the neuron-adaptive microenvironments for hippocampal repair to decline neurological dysfunction after TBI. This study sheds light on the hydrogel-mediated combinatory therapy for treating complex and severe consequences after TBI.