Aligned Bioelectronic Polypyrrole/Collagen Constructs for Peripheral Nerve Interfacing

Electrical stimulation has shown promise in clinical studies to treat nerve injuries. This work aimed to create an aligned bioelectronic construct that can be used to bridge a nerve gap, directly interfacing with the damaged nerve tissue to support regeneration. The conductive three-dimensional bioelectronic scaffolds described herein are composite materials, comprised of conductive polypyrrole (PPy) nanoparticles embedded in an aligned collagen hydrogel. The bioelectronic constructs were seeded with dorsal root ganglion (DRG) derived primary rat neurons and electrically stimulated in vitro. The PPy loaded constructs supported a 1.7-fold increase in neurite length in comparison to control collagen constructs. Furthermore, upon electrical stimulation of the PPy-collagen construct, a 1.8-fold increase in neurite length was shown. This work illustrates the potential of bioelectronic constructs in neural tissue engineering and lays the groundwork for the development of novel bioelectronic materials for neural interfacing applications.