Biocompatible nanoadaptive agents provide hope for safer corneal transplantation, reducing the risk of inflammation and infection

Researchers from the Eye and Otolaryngology Hospital at the University of Fudan in China have developed a new biocompatible nanoadhein agent for corneal transplantation. Nanoadvice agents are based on tetrahedral framework nucleic acids in combination with functionalized polymorphic recombinant proteins. This unique composition inhibits bacteria growth and promotes tissue repair while minimizing the risk of tissue necrosis and inflammation associated with polymer adhesives. This study illustrates an efficient strategy to break through current ophthalmic adhesive bottlenecks.

Current ophthalmic practices urgently require the development of safe and efficient tissue adhesives to avoid traumatic sutures. Although a variety of polymeric adhesives have been used to repair human tissue, their application to ocular tissue adhesion, particularly in corneal implants, remains limited to the preclinical stage.

Polymer adhesives form connections with wound tissue via covalent bonds, leading to chemical damage to the cells and the extracellular matrix. On the other hand, the generated physical barriers via monomer crosslinking also inhibit cell migration processes, limiting cell-substrate attachment.

Because the cornea is a low cell density tissue in blood vessels that rely on aqueous humor circulation to maintain metabolism, these side effects of polymer adhesives are amplified in the application of corneal tissue repair, problems such as delayed wound healing, inflammation, etc. It leads to neovascularization, and even necrosis.

In material futures, researchers reported a new strategy for constructing nanoadvised acids with tetrahedral framework nucleic acids and functionalized poly-type recombinant proteins (K72). In adhesion systems, a hard tetrahedral nucleic acid framework has been introduced to replace traditional inorganic nanoparticles to improve biocompatibility.

Furthermore, this negatively charged 3D DNA supramolecular framework can direct the adsorption of polymorphic protein K72 on its surface, and ultimately efficiently adsorbs it onto the cornea, providing an added strength of 2.33. It can be assembled into cage-like nanostructures with a truly standard surface. KPA is approximately an order of magnitude stronger than inter-dNA sphere pebbles without the tetrahedral framework.

In vitro testing, the nanoadvice agents show excellent cell compatibility. Inhibition of cell activity cannot be observed at 50 μg/ml. The assembled K72 demonstrated antibacterial performance 20 times more than the free K72. Animal studies confirmed that nanostick properties effectively prevent wound infection and neovascularization and enhance the corneal repair process without causing necrosis of implanted corneal lenticules.

Nanoadhes have significantly lower adhesive strength than polymer adhesives, and their biological and medical applications have long been underestimated. This study illustrates the potential of nanoadhesives in repairing delicate biological tissues.

Nanoadhes can avoid the inherent problems of polymer adhesives, such as barrier effects and chemical toxicity on delicate tissues that pose a variety of obstacles and risks during tissue repair and regeneration. Furthermore, the methodological exploration of nanoadhes built on the pure biological polymers reported in this study also provides an idea for a subsequent expansion of the diversity of medical nanoadhes.