{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,3]],"date-time":"2026-06-03T06:49:23Z","timestamp":1780469363164,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":51,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"19","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,22]],"date-time":"2022-09-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1663804800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000057","name":"NIGMS of the National Institutes of Health","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["5P20GM103444-07"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["5P20GM103444-07"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000057","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Functional recovery following traumatic brain injury (TBI) is limited due to progressive neuronal damage resulting from secondary injury-associated neuroinflammation. Steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as dexamethasone (DX), can reduce neuroinflammation by activated microglia and infiltrated macrophages. In our previous work, we developed hydrolytically degradable poly(ethylene) glycol-bis-(acryloyloxy acetate) (PEG-bis-AA) hydrogels with dexamethasone (DX)-conjugated hyaluronic acid (HA-DXM) and demonstrated that dexamethasone-loaded hydrogels (PEG-bis-AA\/HA-DXM) can reduce neuroinflammation, apoptosis, and lesion volume and improve neuronal cell survival and motor function recovery at seven days post-injury (DPI) in a rat mild-TBI model. In this study, we investigate the effects of the local application of PEG-bis-AA\/HA-DXM hydrogels on motor function recovery at 7 DPI and cognitive functional recovery as well as secondary injury at 14 DPI in a rat mild-CCI TBI model. We observed that PEG-bis-AA\/HA-DXM-treated animals exhibit significantly improved motor functions by the rotarod test and cognitive functions by the Morris water maze test compared to untreated TBI animals. We also observed that PEG-bis-AA\/HA-DXM hydrogels reduce the inflammatory response, apoptosis, and lesion volume compared to untreated animals at 14 DPI. Therefore, PEG-bis-AA\/HA-DXM hydrogels can be promising a therapeutic intervention for TBI treatment.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms231911153","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,22]],"date-time":"2022-09-22T21:10:05Z","timestamp":1663881005000},"page":"11153","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":28,"title":["Dexamethasone-Loaded Hydrogels Improve Motor and Cognitive Functions in a Rat Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Model"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"23","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1281-7002","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Christian","family":"Macks","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Drug Design, Development, and Delivery (4D) Laboratory, Department of Bioengineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29615, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Daun","family":"Jeong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Drug Design, Development, and Delivery (4D) Laboratory, Department of Bioengineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29615, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sooneon","family":"Bae","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"MicroEnvironmental Engineering Laboratory, Department of Bioengineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29615, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ken","family":"Webb","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"MicroEnvironmental Engineering Laboratory, Department of Bioengineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29615, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6277-0922","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jeoung Soo","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Drug Design, Development, and Delivery (4D) Laboratory, Department of Bioengineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29615, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Dewan, M.C., Rattani, A., Gupta, S., Baticulon, R.E., Hung, Y.C., Punchak, M., Agrawal, A., Adeleye, A.O., Shrime, M.G., and Rubiano, A.M. 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