Sustained Delivery of Thermally Stabilized chABC by Lipid Microtubules

Abstract

Our knowledge of spinal cord injury repair is broadening with the developing technology for nerve regeneration and drug delivery. In this paper we discuss the current capabilities for spinal cord repair as well as those that are in development. We develop protocols for determining the thermal stability of chondroitinase ABCI and its ability to be implanted into a microtubule-hydrogel drug delivery vehicle as well as the release profile that results from this implantation. After the use of sodium dodecyl electrophoresis, we determined that the disaccharide trehalose has the capacity to thermally stabilize our therapeutic enzyme in vitro. We also determined that the microtubules are effective for sustaining the release of our enzyme while the hydrogel is effective for localizing its effects. The deactivation profile was experimentally quantified to allow for complete diffusion of our enzyme over the course of a two-week implantation. Our thermally stabilized enzyme and drug delivery system can be used for the purpose of facilitating nerve regeneration at the site of an injury.