Snowflake-inspired and blink-driven flexible piezoelectric contact lenses for effective corneal injury repair

Guang Yao (), Xiaoyi Mo, Shanshan Liu, Qian Wang, Maowen Xie, Wenhao Lou, Shiyan Chen, Taisong Pan, Ke Chen (), Dezhong Yao and Yuan Lin ()
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Guang Yao: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Xiaoyi Mo: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Shanshan Liu: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Qian Wang: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Maowen Xie: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Wenhao Lou: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Shiyan Chen: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Taisong Pan: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Ke Chen: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Dezhong Yao: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Yuan Lin: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Abstract The cornea is a tissue susceptible to various injuries and traumas with a complicated cascade repair process, in which conserving its integrity and clarity is critical to restoring visual function. Enhancing the endogenous electric field is recognized as an effective method of accelerating corneal injury repair. However, current equipment limitations and implementation complexities hinder its widespread adoption. Here, we propose a snowflake-inspired, blink-driven flexible piezoelectric contact lens that can convert mechanical blink motions into a unidirectional pulsed electric field for direct application to moderate corneal injury repair. The device is validated on mouse and rabbit models with different relative corneal alkali burn ratios to modulate the microenvironment, alleviate stromal fibrosis, promote orderly epithelial arrangement and differentiation, and restore corneal clarity. Within an 8-day intervention, the corneal clarity of mice and rabbits improves by more than 50%, and the repair rate of mouse and rabbit corneas increases by over 52%. Mechanistically, the device intervention is advantageous in blocking growth factors’ signaling pathways specifically involved in stromal fibrosis whilst preserving and harnessing the signaling pathways required for indispensable epithelial metabolism. This work put forward an efficient and orderly corneal therapeutic technology utilizing artificial endogenous-strengthened signals generated by spontaneous body activities.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39315-6

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