Preparation and application of modified peach gum polysaccharide in the repair of central nervous system injury.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is an irreversible neurological injury that leads to severe motor dysfunction and neurological deficiencies, imposing a large social load. Due to the difficulty of the SCI procedure, the prognosis is normally bad. In recent years, naturally derived hydrogels have garnered increasing attention. Peach gum (PG) primarily consists of macromolecular polysaccharides with abundant hydroxyl and carboxyl groups on its branched chains, making it amenable to modification. This study is the first to prepare carboxymethylated peach gum polysaccharide (CPG) using PG as the raw material and load it with nerve growth factor (NGF) to improve the adverse microenvironment post-SCI and promote axonal regeneration. Carboxymethylation modification of PG was done, and its effective change was verified by infrared spectroscopy and degree of replacement measurements. After loading NGF, its characterization was examined. The mechanical characteristics, thermal behavior, and self-healing ability of CPG + NGF were shown to be outstanding in the results. Cell experiments demonstrated that, compared to the sham-operated group, CPG + NGF significantly promotes neurite outgrowth and development in PC-12 cells. Ultimately, CPG + NGF was implanted into the injured spinal cords of rats, and research demonstrated that CPG + NGF significantly improves the microenvironment of the affected areas, fosters axonal regeneration in severely damaged spinal cord regions, and enhances motor function in the rats. The modified PG biopolymer scaffold developed in this study exhibits superior mechanical strength, excellent cytocompatibility, and enhanced biological functionality. In summary, this research provides new insights into the application of biomacromolecules in SCI repair.