2. Academic Validation
  3. A Novel Cranial Bone Transport Technique Repairs Skull Defect and Minimizes Brain Injury Outcome in Traumatic Brain Injury Rats

A Novel Cranial Bone Transport Technique Repairs Skull Defect and Minimizes Brain Injury Outcome in Traumatic Brain Injury Rats

  • Adv Sci (Weinh). 2025 May 31:e04467. doi: 10.1002/advs.202504467.
Shanshan Bai 1 2 3,  Xuan Lu 1 2 3,  Xu Yan 1 2,  Han Su 1 2 4,  Yuejun Lin 1 2,  Zhaowei Jiang 1 2,  Zhixian Zong 1 2,  Haixing Wang 1 5 2,  Leo Yik Chun Yan 6,  Xiaoting Zhang 1 2,  Ming Wang 1 2,  Zhengmeng Yang 1 2 3,  Jiakang Jin 1 2,  Yaofeng Wang 3,  Wayne Yuk-Wai Lee 1 2,  Xiaohua Jiang 7,  Ho Ko 6,  Lu Feng 3,  Micky D Tortorella 3,  Sien Lin 1 2,  Gang Li 1 5 2
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine Laboratory, Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, 999077, P. R. China.
  • 2 Musculoskeletal Research Laboratory, Department of Orthopaedics & Traumatology, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, 999077, P. R. China.
  • 3 Centre for Regenerative Medicine and Health, Hong Kong Institute of Science & Innovation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, 999077, P. R. China.
  • 4 Department of Neurosurgery, First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, 130000, P. R. China.
  • 5 Center for Locomotor System Regenerative Medicine and Technology, Institutes of Biomedicine and Biotechnology, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University Town of Shenzhen, Shenzhen, 518055, P. R. China.
  • 6 Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine and Therapeutics & Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, 999077, P. R. China.
  • 7 Key Laboratory for Regenerative Medicine of the Ministry of Education of China, School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, 999077, P. R. China.
PMID: 40448603 DOI: 10.1002/advs.202504467
Abstract

TBI (traumatic brain injury) is a major cause of mortality and morbidity among young adults with limited therapeutic strategies. Cranial bone transport (CBT) technique is a safe, less invasive, and relatively simple surgical technique in bone reconstruction, which has been used to repair cranial bone defects and deformity corrections. The current studies are to determine the effects of CBT surgery on cranial bone regeneration as well as neurological functional recovery in TBI. CBT treatment alleviated lesion size and promoted learning, motor, and memory recovery in TBI rats. The meningeal lymphatic drainage function is enhanced, evidenced by increased intake of ovalbumin conjugated with Alexa Flour 647(OVA-A647) in meningeal lymphatic vessels (MLVs) and deep cervical lymph nodes (dCLNs). CBT accelerated P-tau clearance while decreasing Iba1 induced neuroinflammatory response in TBI rats. Notably, improvement of CBT treatment is significantly abolished by the ablation of MLVs via MAZ51, a small-molecule inhibitor primarily targeting vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-3 (VEGFR-3). Furthermore, after bone transport treatment, bone regeneration in the CBT sites continued consolidation, bone defects in TBI are replaced with new bone more quickly after CBT surgery. Taken together, the study is a proof-of-concept de-novo study to prove CBT can significantly improve the outcomes of brain recovery and cranioplasty in TBI rats.

Keywords

cranial bone transport; cranioplasty; meningeal lymphatic drainage; neuro‐inflammation; traumatic brain injury.

Figures
Products