Au Nanowires as Membrane‐Attached Magnetoelectric Nanoelectrodes to Promote Neuronal Differentiation and Spinal Cord Injury Repair

Abstract Transplantation of neural stem cells (NSCs) is a promising strategy for curing spinal cord injury (SCI) but their therapeutic effect is hindered by the uncontrolled and low‐efficiency neuronal differentiation. Electrical stimulation is a powerful tool for promoting the neuronal differentiation of NSCs. However, the implanted NSCs are in a dynamically movable state in vivo and may detach from the stimulating materials, resulting in deactivation of the electrical stimulation. Therefore, it has been a great challenge to electrically stimulate the differentiation of transplanted NSCs. Here, it is proposed to use Au nanowires as membrane‐attached nanoelectrodes to let them move together with implanted NSCs. Under a magnetic field, the cell follow‐up magnetoelectric stimulation generated by nanoelectrodes can directly induce the opening of voltage‐gated calcium channels and the change of membrane potential. Upon nanoelectrodes‐mediated magnetoelectric stimulation, 38.4% of NSCs differentiate into neurons, which is three times higher than that of bare NSCs. The NSCs with membrane‐attached nanoelectrodes can be directly transplanted to the injury lesion of SCI mice. Under magnetic field treatment, the cell follow‐up magnetoelectric stimulation can promote the generation of neurons and improve the restoration of SCI mice within 4 weeks.