Harnessing wireless electrical stimulation and silk-based conductive hydrogels to boost iPSC-derived astrocytes neuroprotection and guide macrophage polarisation in vitro for spinal cord repair

Biomaterials 2026 Open access

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Authors: Rajiv Borah, Julia O'Sullivan, Dahnan Spurling, Aoife McLoughlin, Diana Eveline Sanchez Amador, Meenakshi Suku, Valeria Nicolosi, Antonella Motta, Maeve A. Caldwell, Michael G. Monaghan
DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2026.124079
Cited by: 5
References: 81

Abstract

Spinal cord injury (SCI) remains a major clinical challenge due to its complex pathophysiology and lack of effective treatments. While electrical stimulation (ES) offers therapeutic potential for promoting neural repair, its clinical translation is limited by the invasiveness of conventional systems. Here, we report a non-invasive wireless electrical stimulation (WES) platform based on charge polarisation-induced capacitive coupling, enabled by a conductive silk fibroin/PEDOT:PSS (SF/PEDOT) hydrogel. SF/PEDOT hydrogels exhibit a tuneable mechanical stiffness (2-120 kPa), injectable delivery (

Fields of Study & Subjects

Planarian Biology and Electrostimulation Spinal Cord Injury Research Neuroscience and Neural Engineering

Publication details

Journal / source
Biomaterials
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Volume
330
Pages
124079–124079
Publication date
14 February 2026
Language
EN