Micro texturing and laser irradiation, two stimulus of growth and differentiation to neural like cell on the PMMA polymer

Abstract

Nerve injuries and neurodegenerative disorders remain serious challenges due to the poor results of nerve cell regeneration. The most promising treatment for such injuries is treatments based on stimulating cells to grow and differentiate stem cells in that area into nerve cells, but there are obstacles in controlling the growth and differentiation into fully functional nerve cells and research is ongoing to overcome these obstacles. In this study, polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and its laser modified surfaces were used for cell culture and differentiation into neuron-like cells. In order to show the differentiation of PC12 cells into neuron-like cells, the expression levels of the neuronal markers Map2 and Synapsin-1 were examined. The results showed the growth of PC12 on raw PMMA was increased significantly compared to the control group and micrometric parallel grooves lead to a significant difference in cell growth compared to raw PMMA. Also, the simultaneous irradiation of laser to the cell cultured on PMMA caused more cell adhesion on the surface, faster growth and differentiation of PC12 into neuron-like cells.