Biofabricated Nano-Cerium Oxide Loaded Polycaprolactone with Resveratrol Improves Repair of Spinal Cord Injury Through the PTEN/AKT Pathway

Abstract

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is the main cause of severe dysfunction of limbs, causes serious physical and psychological damage to patients. Resveratrol (RVL) has been proven to improve the function of damaged organs, therefore we tried to explore whether RVL could exert a protective effect on SCI, as well as its related mechanism. Emulsion/solvent evaporation method was used to prepare CeO2-loaded microspheres and RVL nanopreparations, and bio fabricated CeO2-RVL/PCL was developed and assessed by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and dynamic light scattering (DLS) analysis. Then, the therapeutic effect of newly prepared CeO2-RVL/PCL on SCI was evaluated by assays. Bio fabricated CeO2-PCL/RVL was successfully established with good biocompatibility and stability. The CeO2-PCL/RVL effectively reduced apoptosis and spinal cord water content, and promoted the recovery of SCI in mice. Importantly, neuroprotective effect of CeO2-PCL/RVL on SCI was highly correlated with activation of the PTEN/AKT pathway. Our study successfully developed the biofabricated nano-CeO2 loaded PCL polymer, which proved that the CeO2-PCL/RVL is a feasible medical material for relieving SCI. The neuroprotective effect of CeO2-PCL/RVL on SCI relied on activation of the PTEN/AKT pathway. This study is expected to provide new ideas on treatment of SCI.