Mechanically Compliant, Precision-Porous Brain Implants Reduce the Foreign Body Reaction and Guide Regeneration

Central nervous system diseases and injuries might be treated by implanted devices, tissue regenerative scaffolds, or drug delivery platforms. However, inflammatory CNS responses limit these interventions and may worsen outcomes following damage to the CNS. Via the foreign body reaction, macrophages and glial cells trigger a "glial scar" around implants, reducing device performance, scaffold regenerative ability, or drug delivery potential. Previous studies have shown that stiffness of CNS implants significantly affects glial encapsulation, but few studies have investigated materials that truly match brain tissue stiffness. Porous precision-templated scaffolds with uniform, interconnected, 4