Graphene-Derived Materials Interfacing the Spinal Cord: Outstanding in Vitro and in Vivo Findings

Graphene-derived materials (GDMs) are being explored for their potential in neural applications, particularly in interfacing with the brain and spinal cord. These materials have shown promise in creating biocompatible substrates that promote the growth and activity of neural cells in laboratory settings. GDMs can positively interact with neural tissues when implanted in living organisms. These encouraging results in the central nervous system could drive further research of GDMs towards preclinical studies. This review discusses the latest research on how GDMs interact with the spinal cord, including studies where these materials are implanted in injured spinal cords, models using spinal cord slices, and results from experiments with neural cells.

• 1
  rGO scaffolds implanted in hemisected rat spinal cords formed a soft interface with neural tissue, did not augment fibroglial scars, and facilitated cellular and molecular scaffold infiltration, including vimentin+ and PDGFRβ+ cells, and M2-like macrophages.
• 2
  In the olfactory bulb of mice, rGO did not show deleterious effects on the survival of resident neurons and astrocytes, nor on newly generated neurons.
• 3
  Small GO nanosheets can alter cell membrane-based processes, such as vesicle kinetics, potentially compromising synaptic communication in hippocampal neurons and cortical glia cultures.