Abstract
Neural progenitor cell (NPC) transplantation is a promising technique for central nervous system (CNS) reconstruction and regeneration. Biomaterial scaffolds, frameworks, and platforms can support NPC proliferation and differentiation in vitro as well as serve as a temporary extracellular matrix after transplantation. However, further applications of biomaterials require improved biological attributes. Silk fibroin (SF), which is produced by Bombyx mori, is a widely used and studied protein polymer for biomaterial application. Here, we prepared aligned and random eletrospun regenerated SF (RSF) scaffolds, and evaluated their impact on the growth of NPCs. First, we isolated NPCs and then cultured them on either laminin-coated RSF mats or conventional laminin-coated coverslips for cell assays. We found that aligned and random RSF led to increases in NPC proliferation of 143.8 ± 13.3% and 156.3 ± 14.7%, respectively, compared to controls. Next, we investigated neuron differentiation and found that the aligned and the random RSF led to increases in increase in neuron differentiation of about 93.2 ± 6.4%, and 3167.1 ± 4.8%, respectively, compared to controls. Furthermore, we measured the survival of NPCs and found that RSF promoted NPC survival, and found there was no difference among those three groups. Finally, signaling pathways in cells cultured on RSF mats were studied for their contributions in neural cell differentiation. Our results indicate that RSF mats provide a functional microenvironment and represent a useful scaffold for the development of new strategies in neural engineering research.
Highlights
Numerous tissue engineering methods have been developed as a means to replace damaged or diseased organs (Langer and Vacanti, 2016)
We investigated the attachment, viability, growth, proliferation, and differentiation capacities of Neural progenitor cell (NPC) from the embryonic mouse hippocampus on both laminin-coated aligned and random regenerated SF (RSF) mats, which were prepared free of sericin, which is known to trigger inflammatory reactions (Aramwit et al, 2009)
The RSF mats can be functionalized by the covalent attachment of cell adhesion molecules and can influence cellular signaling pathways, we investigated the signaling pathways that might be involved in NPC differentiation
Summary
Numerous tissue engineering methods have been developed as a means to replace damaged or diseased organs (Langer and Vacanti, 2016). In the case of the same implantation method, the choice of cells and biological materials is important for nerve regeneration. These approaches use tissuespecific cells that are grown on a scaffold material with the purpose of creating a functional tissue or organ. Neural progenitor cells (NPCs) are self-renewable and multipotent stem cells, i.e., they can make copies of themselves and can differentiate into many different mature cell types (Gage and Temple, 2013), and much work has focused on growing NPCs on tissue-engineered scaffolds as part of cell-based transplantation therapies for treating a variety of CNS diseases and for repairing nerve injuries. A main function of a tissue-engineered scaffold is to guide cell behaviors, such as growth and survival, via cell—matrix and cell—cell interactions that facilitate sensing and responding to the environment
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