Hydrogel with cell-cell adhesion cues enhances neural regeneration

Cell-cell adhesion is crucial for maintaining cell functions and the integrity of tissue structure in organisms. However, cell-cell adhesion cues have not been effectively replicated in biomaterials and the associated mechanisms that enhance neural regeneration remained largely unexplored. Here, we present a diffusive N-cadherin functionalized hydrogel system, which provided cell-cell adhesion cues to modulate intercellular communications to significantly promote the formation of active neural network via thrombospondin-1 mediated neural communication and activation of TGF-β/Smad pathway. The dynamic assembly of N-cadherin at cell-hydrogel interface driven by adhered neurons effectively facilitated the reshaping of membrane protrusions to initiate intercellular adherens junctions. Further, this hydrogel system promisingly promoted neurological function recovery in rats following traumatic brain injury. Our study provides the principle of replicating diffusive cell adhesion molecules to mediate cell-cell adhesion in hydrogels, which may have broad applications in developing engineered biomaterials aimed at modulating cell fates in regeneration of various tissues.