Vitamin C Forum

Collagen, in terms of brain repair, presents many advantages such as being remarkably biocompatible, biodegradable, versatile and non-toxic. Collagen can be used to form injectable scaffolds and micro/nano spheres in order to: (i) locally release therapeutic factors with the aim of protecting degenerating neurons in neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's diseases, (ii) encapsulate stem cells for safe delivery, (iii) encapsulate genetically modified cells to provide a long term source of trophic factors, (iv) fill in the voids from injury to serve as a structural support and provide a permissive microenvironment to promote axonal growth.


CollScaff and collagen microspheres loaded with therapeutic factors have a great potential in the safe and efficient treatment of various neurodegenerative conditions and other CNS disorders such as stroke and traumatic brain injury. This method of drug delivery may be used for application of multiple drugs, such as combinations of growth factors and anti-oxidant substances against neurodegeneration. Additionally, surface modified collagen nanospheres can be systemically administered and used to target the brain without an invasive severe stereotaxic surgery. It is certain that despite the excellent natural properties of collagen, side effects of these systems such as possible gliosis must be considered and evaluated carefully in preclinical trials before entering clinical trials. Nevertheless, collagen as a natural biomaterial presents remarkable opportunities in terms of both repair and regeneration of the CNS, which are worth to be investigated.

We found that lower grey matter volume was associated with lower plasma vitamin C and higher homocysteine, cholesterol and LDL. Lower blood cell folate was also associated with lower grey matter volume but HbA1(c) was not. These data are consistent with the putative benefits of dietary vitamin C and folate intake and the role of cholesterol in age related neurodegeneration.