Abstract
Myelin sheaths are essential in maintaining the integrity of axons. Development of the platform for in vitro myelination would be especially useful for demyelinating disease modeling and drug screening. In this study, a fiber scaffold with a core–shell structure was prepared in one step by the coaxial electrospinning method. A high-molecular-weight polymer poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA) was used as the core, while the shell was a natural polymer material such as hyaluronic acid (HA), sodium alginate (SA), or chitosan (CS). The morphology, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR), contact angle, viability assay, and in vitro myelination by oligodendrocytes were characterized. The results showed that such fibers are bead-free and continuous, with an average size from 294 ± 53 to 390 ± 54 nm. The DSC and FTIR curves indicated no changes in the phase state of coaxial brackets. Hyaluronic acid/PLLA coaxial fibers had the minimum contact angle (53.1° ± 0.24°). Myelin sheaths were wrapped around a coaxial electrospun scaffold modified with water-soluble materials after a 14-day incubation. All results suggest that such a scaffold prepared by coaxial electrospinning potentially provides a novel platform for oligodendrocyte myelination.
Highlights
The myelin sheath wraps around the axons of neurons to provide protection, nutrition, and electrical insulation for axons [1]
The pure poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA) spun was marked as A0, the spinning with sodium alginate (SA) as the shell was marked as A1, the outermost layer was hyaluronic acid (HA) spun as A2, and the outer layer of CS was labeled A3
The smallest one was A1 with an average diameter of 294 ± 53 nm, and the largest was A3 with an average diameter of 390 ± 54 nm. This was due to the fact that the voltage and acceptance distance of A1 during the preparation process were larger than other groups
Summary
The myelin sheath wraps around the axons of neurons to provide protection, nutrition, and electrical insulation for axons [1]. Most studies have used a primary neuron and oligodendrocyte coculture system for an in vitro myelinating assay, which was time consuming and irreproducible [9]. Biocompatible polymers such as poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA), poly (lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA), and poly (ε-caprolactone) (PCL) have been widely used as culture scaffolds to support cell proliferation and differentiation [10,11,12]. Previous efforts have used electrospun polystyrene or PLLA nanofibers as an artificial scaffold for oligodendrocyte myelination [14,15] These scaffolds need to be coated with poly(l-lysine) to support cell attachment.
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