Sci Transl Med: Chinese scholars develop nanofiber hydrogel composites to promote soft tissue regeneration.

May 4, 2019 / Biovalley BIOON / - a team of researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of medicine has developed a gel that can be injected into animal tissues to allow new soft tissue to grow and replace lost tissues In the paper published in the Science Translational Medicine magazine, the team described their development of the gel and its effects on experimental rats and rabbits When a person loses a large piece of soft tissue due to an accident, infection or surgery, surgeons have little way to induce the body to regenerate the missing tissue, which will remind patients of what they have lost In this new study, researchers have developed a new gel that is expected to become a tool for soft tissue regeneration Photo source: Science Translational Medicine in order to make this gel, the research team used a known biodegradable polymer to manufacture nanofibers, which have been used in practical medical applications for several years Next, the researchers processed nanofibers, so that some of them could be combined with hyaluronic acid In practical medical applications, Chinese students are also using hyaluronic acid In this case, nanofibers can form gels, promote the infiltration of macrophages, resulting in the formation of blood vessels The researchers thus obtained an injectable gel that could serve as a scaffold and promote the loss of soft tissue regeneration Researchers note that this gel is very close to the real tissue and has elasticity and softness The researchers tested their gel on the rats and rabbits The researchers removed tissues from the rats and rabbits and filled the cavity with gel According to their reports, gelatin is easy to match with the shape of the cavity before solidification But more importantly, macrophages appear and begin to penetrate into the gel, signaling the body to generate new cells and blood vessels in the gel The end result is that the lost tissue can regenerate Researchers pointed out that this gel can help to regenerate soft tissue with a loss of less than 10 cubic centimeters, which is about the same size as human fingers Researchers are expected to conduct clinical trials in humans soon to test this new gel, because all ingredients have been used in other medical applications Reference: Xiaowei Li et al Nanofiber hydraulic composite – mediated angiogenesis for soft tissue reconstruction, Science Translational Medicine (2019) Doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aau6210