Therapeutic Approaches for Stroke: A Biomaterials Perspective

Abstract

Stroke is a leading cause of death worldwide and poses significant societal and healthcare challenges due to functional impairment of the brain. In order to fully restore brain function, innovative approaches have aimed to regenerate the injured tissue and to restore neuronal circuitry. In the last 5 years, stem cells have been consistently explored in clinical trials for tissue regeneration. Recent technological progress regarding the use of stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles has also shown promise toward the administration of cell-based therapies exploiting paracrine signaling. In addition, neuromodulation using different stimulation modalities has become increasingly investigated in the clinic as a non-invasive strategy to promote functional recovery. This approach contrasts with invasive strategies using devices capable of delivering electrical pulses in deep regions of the brain, which nonetheless are well-established in the clinic for the treatment of other neurological disorders. This chapter reviews the latest approaches covering brain tissue regeneration and neuromodulation, and discusses their limitations for clinical translation. Preclinical investigations on the use of light for neuromodulation in optogenetics have sparked the development of biocompatible interfaces capable of coupling optical stimulation with electrical recording. These biointerfaces require novel materials whose physicochemical properties are discussed herein.