Addressing The Challenge of Peripheral Nerve Injuries with Ti3C2 MXene Based Electro-conductive Polymer Nerve Guidance Conduits

Injuries to peripheral nerves is a significant public health concern exacerbated by the rise in travel frequency and an unfortunate increase in armed conflicts. While diagnosing these injuries is relatively straightforward, their management poses a considerable challenge. The current gold standard surgical technique involves using autografts using a donor nerve graft from the patient's own body to bridge the injury gap. However, this approach results in additional injury at the donor site, underscoring the complexity of managing such injuries. Moreover, the treatment of peripheral nerve injuries has seen little innovation over the past century, highlighting the critical need for alternative approaches that can effectively address these injuries without causing additional harm to the patient.

Nerve guidance conduits are specialized structures designed to facilitate the repair and recovery of damaged nerves. These conduits, constructed from a diverse range of biomaterials, create a supportive environment for nerve regeneration. While tubulisation utilizing materials like silicon tubing provides a basic solution, it falls short of being optimal. The demand for new biomaterials that are biocompatible, biodegradable and supportive is evident, with a particular focus on polymers to meet these criteria.

Given the electrical nature of neuronal signals, it was suggested to utilize electro-conductive conduits to enhance the efficacy of nerve regeneration. This has led to the development of conductive polymer neuronal conduits, representing a cutting-edge approach to neural recovery. Such conduits hold promise in overcoming the challenges with regeneration of neuronal injuries. Nonetheless, a major obstacle arises: most polymers lack conductivity and instead function as dielectrics.

Addressing this challenge, we employ MXenes, a novel family of graphene-like 2D nanomaterials with exceptional properties. MXenes have attracted significant interest across various scientific and technological domains, particularly for their remarkable electro-conductivity surpassing that of graphene. The non-toxic and biocompatible nature of MXenes makes them ideal candidates for designing the next generation of neuronal conduits. Consequently, our project focuses on developing polymer nanofibrous membranes coated with titanium carbide MXene. These membranes are then employed to construct neural guidance conduits to address sciatic nerve injury in rats. While the project is ongoing, we have already observed enhanced functional recovery in the injured paw treated with the MXene-based nerve guidance conduits.