Dual-Channel Fluorescence Imaging of Hydrogel Degradation and Tissue Regeneration in the Brain

The ability of brain tissue to regenerate is limited; therefore, brain diseases (i.e., trauma, stroke, tumors) often lead to irreversible motor and cognitive impairments.Therapeutic interventions using various types of injectable biomaterials have been investigated to promote endogenous neural differentiation.Despite promising results in pre-clinical studies, the translation of regenerative medicine to the clinic has many challenges due to the lack of reliable imaging systems to achieve accurate evaluation of the treatment efficacy.Methods: In this study, we developed a dual-channel fluorescence imaging technique to simultaneously monitor tissue ingrowth and scaffold disintegration.Enzymatically crosslinked gelatin-hyaluronic acid hydrogel was labeled with 800 nm fluorophore, ZW800-3a, while the regenerated tissue was highlighted with 700 nm brain-specific contrast agent, Ox1.Results: Us…