Vascularization Modulates Morphology and Activity Characteristics of Engineered Neural Implants In-Vitro and In-Vivo

Engineering of neural implants has myriad of applications, spanning from basic science applications to treatment of neural disorders. Currently, applied neural tissue engineering is taking its first clinical steps and many challenges are still to be addressed to obtain functional, viable implants following implantation. Pre-vascularization of engineered tissues has proved to enhance the integration of implants to the host following implantation. Pre-vascularization of neural tissue is promising in particular because of the interplay between neural and vascular networks, possibly improving the functional attributes of the neural network. Here, we developed a method to engineer a pre-vascularized construct and assess its functional properties in-vitro and in-vivo. We report how pre-vascularized neural implants compared to neural implants without pre-vascularization exhibit richer morphology and more complex activity patterns while presenting better integration to the central nervous system of mice. This method can be used for design and optimization of various neural and neuronal implants towards clinical solutions for various neurological disorders and injuries.