Construction of graphene oxide-modified peptide-coated nanofibrous enhances the osteogenic conversion of induced pluripotent stem cells

Abstract

To achieve the therapeutic promise of induced human pluripotent stem cells (ihPSCs) in stem cell therapy, simple and safe biomaterials for ihPSCs proliferation and lineage commitment to osteoblasts have been developed. A chemically defined graphene oxide (GO) containing electrospun nanofibrous scaffolds of ε-polycaprolactone (PCL)-modified with bone-forming peptide (BFP-1) peptide microenvironment was constructed to improve the in vitro cell growth and osteogenic ability of ihPSCs. Under controlled settings, ihPSCs effectively proliferated and retained pluripotency of bone-forming peptide-coated nanofibers without Matrigel. Furthermore, the prepared niche showed promise in endorsing directed ihPSCs differentiation to phenotype osteoblastic without the need for embryoid (EB) formations, as evidenced by cell morphology changes, protein production, osteogenesis-related gene expression and alkaline phosphate activity. Safe nanofiber scaffolds, xeno-free, and well-defined nanofiber allow ihPSCs osteo-differentiation and survival present a unique system for ihPSCs differentiation through cell-nanofiber interaction and considerable utility in speeding up the translational potential of ihPSCs in bone tissue engineering.