Abstract
The unique electrochemical properties of the conductive polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) make it an attractive material for use in neural tissue engineering applications. However, inadequate mechanical properties, and difficulties in processing and lack of biodegradability have hindered progress in this field. Here, the functionality of PEDOT:PSS for neural tissue engineering is improved by incorporating 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) oligomers, synthesized using a novel end-capping strategy, into block co-polymers. By exploiting end-functionalized oligoEDOT constructs as macroinitiators for the polymerization of poly(caprolactone), a block co-polymer is produced that is electroactive, processable, and bio-compatible. By combining these properties, electroactive fibrous mats are produced for neuronal culture via solution electrospinning and melt electrospinning writing. Importantly, it is also shown that neurite length and branching of neural stem cells can be enhanced on the materials under electrical stimulation, demonstrating the promise of these scaffolds for neural tissue engineering.
Highlights
The unique electrochemical properties of the conductive polymer the in vivo environment.[1,2,3,4,5] Yet, fully recapitulating all functional aspects of neupoly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) make ronal networks within an in vitro system it an attractive material for use in neural tissue engineering applications
It is gies have led to promising developments shown that neurite length and branching of neural stem cells can be enhanced on the materials under electrical stimulation, demonstrating the promise of these scaffolds for neural tissue engineering
To investigate the effects of electrical stimulation on neural stem cells (NSCs) cultured on oligoEDOT-PCL films, we examined neurite length and branching in NSCs after applying a pulsed direct current (DC) (Figure 5a)
Summary
To construct end-functionalized oligoEDOTs we adopted a synthetic approach recently reported by our group.[54] The iterative process consists of thiophene glyoxylation, bromination, chain. Extension, and oligomer cross-coupling, and yields end-functionalized EDOT oligomers of defined chain lengths (Figure S1, Supporting Information). Subsequent bromination yielded di-functional monomer 4, which could undergo subsequent chain extension and oligomer couplings via palladium-catalyzed direct arylation (Figure S1, Supporting Information). The use of direct arylation, over alternative strategies such as Stille or Kumada couplings, limited potential problems with poor functional group compatibility and residual catalyst toxicity.[55] Through this strategy, we were able to generate a range of protected amine-functionalized oligoEDOTs in an iterative manner, with defined chain lengths (n = 2–5, 5–8) (Figure S1, Supporting Information)
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