A ‘Relay’-Type Drug-Eluting Nerve Guide Conduit: Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling of the Drug Eluting Efficiency of Various Drug Release Systems
Nerve guidance conduits (NGCs) are tubular scaffolds that act as a bridge between the proximal and distal ends of the native nerve to facilitate the nerve regeneration. The application of NGCs is mostly limited to nerve defects less than 3 mm due to the lack of sufficient cells in the lumen. The dev...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Pharmaceutics |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4923/14/2/230 |
| _version_ | 1797477220872093696 |
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| author | Jiarui Zhou Sanjairaj Vijayavenkataraman |
| author_facet | Jiarui Zhou Sanjairaj Vijayavenkataraman |
| author_sort | Jiarui Zhou |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Nerve guidance conduits (NGCs) are tubular scaffolds that act as a bridge between the proximal and distal ends of the native nerve to facilitate the nerve regeneration. The application of NGCs is mostly limited to nerve defects less than 3 mm due to the lack of sufficient cells in the lumen. The development of drug-release-system-embedded NGCs has the potential to improve the nerve regeneration performance by providing long-term release of growth factors. However, most of the past works only focused on one type of drug release system, limiting the variation in drug release system types and features. Therefore, in this study, computer-aided design (CAD) models were constructed and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations were carried out to investigate the effect of growth factor transporting efficiency on different drug release systems. To overcome the challenges posed by the current NGCs in treating long nerve gap injuries (>4 cm), a novel ‘relay’ NGC design is first proposed in this paper and has the potential to improve the nerve regeneration performance to next level. The intermediate cavities introduced along the length of the multi-channel NGCs act as a relay to further enhance the cell concentrations or growth factor delivery as well as the regeneration performance. Four different drug release systems, namely, a single-layer microsphere system, a double-layer microsphere system, bulk hydrogel, and hydrogel film, were chosen for the simulation. The results show that the double-layer microsphere system achieves the highest growth factor volume fraction among all the drug release systems. For the single-layer microsphere system, growth factor concentration can be significantly improved by increasing the microsphere quantities and decreasing the diameter and adjacent distance of microspheres. Bulk hydrogel systems hold the lowest growth factor release performance, and the growth factor concentration monotonically increased with the increase of film thickness in the hydrogel film system. Owing to the easy fabrication of hydrogel film and the even distribution of growth factors, the hydrogel film system can be regarded as a strong candidate in drug-eluting NGCs. The use of computational simulations can be regarded as a guideline for the design and application of drug release systems, as well as a promising tool for further nerve tissue engineering study. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T21:14:33Z |
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| id | doaj.art-00eb30450ff7452394f4d2da59c4fab1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1999-4923 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T21:14:33Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Pharmaceutics |
| spelling | doaj.art-00eb30450ff7452394f4d2da59c4fab12023-11-23T21:35:49ZengMDPI AGPharmaceutics1999-49232022-01-0114223010.3390/pharmaceutics14020230A ‘Relay’-Type Drug-Eluting Nerve Guide Conduit: Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling of the Drug Eluting Efficiency of Various Drug Release SystemsJiarui Zhou0Sanjairaj Vijayavenkataraman1The Vijay Lab, Division of Engineering, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi 129188, United Arab EmiratesThe Vijay Lab, Division of Engineering, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi 129188, United Arab EmiratesNerve guidance conduits (NGCs) are tubular scaffolds that act as a bridge between the proximal and distal ends of the native nerve to facilitate the nerve regeneration. The application of NGCs is mostly limited to nerve defects less than 3 mm due to the lack of sufficient cells in the lumen. The development of drug-release-system-embedded NGCs has the potential to improve the nerve regeneration performance by providing long-term release of growth factors. However, most of the past works only focused on one type of drug release system, limiting the variation in drug release system types and features. Therefore, in this study, computer-aided design (CAD) models were constructed and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations were carried out to investigate the effect of growth factor transporting efficiency on different drug release systems. To overcome the challenges posed by the current NGCs in treating long nerve gap injuries (>4 cm), a novel ‘relay’ NGC design is first proposed in this paper and has the potential to improve the nerve regeneration performance to next level. The intermediate cavities introduced along the length of the multi-channel NGCs act as a relay to further enhance the cell concentrations or growth factor delivery as well as the regeneration performance. Four different drug release systems, namely, a single-layer microsphere system, a double-layer microsphere system, bulk hydrogel, and hydrogel film, were chosen for the simulation. The results show that the double-layer microsphere system achieves the highest growth factor volume fraction among all the drug release systems. For the single-layer microsphere system, growth factor concentration can be significantly improved by increasing the microsphere quantities and decreasing the diameter and adjacent distance of microspheres. Bulk hydrogel systems hold the lowest growth factor release performance, and the growth factor concentration monotonically increased with the increase of film thickness in the hydrogel film system. Owing to the easy fabrication of hydrogel film and the even distribution of growth factors, the hydrogel film system can be regarded as a strong candidate in drug-eluting NGCs. The use of computational simulations can be regarded as a guideline for the design and application of drug release systems, as well as a promising tool for further nerve tissue engineering study.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4923/14/2/230nerve guide conduitNGCperipheral nerve injurydrug-eluting scaffoldsnerve |
| spellingShingle | Jiarui Zhou Sanjairaj Vijayavenkataraman A ‘Relay’-Type Drug-Eluting Nerve Guide Conduit: Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling of the Drug Eluting Efficiency of Various Drug Release Systems Pharmaceutics nerve guide conduit NGC peripheral nerve injury drug-eluting scaffolds nerve |
| title | A ‘Relay’-Type Drug-Eluting Nerve Guide Conduit: Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling of the Drug Eluting Efficiency of Various Drug Release Systems |
| title_full | A ‘Relay’-Type Drug-Eluting Nerve Guide Conduit: Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling of the Drug Eluting Efficiency of Various Drug Release Systems |
| title_fullStr | A ‘Relay’-Type Drug-Eluting Nerve Guide Conduit: Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling of the Drug Eluting Efficiency of Various Drug Release Systems |
| title_full_unstemmed | A ‘Relay’-Type Drug-Eluting Nerve Guide Conduit: Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling of the Drug Eluting Efficiency of Various Drug Release Systems |
| title_short | A ‘Relay’-Type Drug-Eluting Nerve Guide Conduit: Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling of the Drug Eluting Efficiency of Various Drug Release Systems |
| title_sort | relay type drug eluting nerve guide conduit computational fluid dynamics modeling of the drug eluting efficiency of various drug release systems |
| topic | nerve guide conduit NGC peripheral nerve injury drug-eluting scaffolds nerve |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4923/14/2/230 |
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