An injectable, biomaterial-based therapy to promote endogenous neural progenitor cells in a hemorrhagic stroke lesion

Stroke is the second leading cause of death and disability worldwide with prevalence and resulting costs projected to increase. There are few available treatments, and their applicability is limited to the type of stroke and the initial hours after onset. New treatments are needed to address post-stroke disability and the needs of survivors with a low quality of life. An emerging therapeutic concept is the direct injection of a biomaterial-based therapy into the stroke lesion to restore neural elements for improved function. The principal objective of this thesis was to evaluate the ability of an injectable, gelatin-based biomaterial (gelatin-hydroxyphenylpropionic acid, Gtn-HPA) incorporating epidermal growth factor (EGF) to increase the number of endogenous nestin-positive neural progenitor cells (NPCs) in the lesion. In a well-validated intracerebral hemorrhagic (ICH) stroke model in rats, NPCs were quantified and compared to ICH-only controls at 2 and 4 weeks post-injection.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctoral

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2020

Author dc:creator

• Love, Christopher J.,Ph.D.Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Myron Spector.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses may be protected by copyright. Please reuse MIT thesis content according to the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy, which is available through the URL provided.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/127726

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/127726