Migration and differentiation of neural stem cells in novel random and aligned nanofibrous scaffolds.

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Migration and differentiation of neural stem cells in novel random and aligned nanofibrous scaffolds. Hadi Hajiali1, 2, Andrea Contestabile3, Athanassia Athanassiou1 and Elisa Mele1, 4 1 Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Smart Materials, Nanophysics,, Italy 2 University of Genoa, DIBRIS, Italy 3 Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Neuroscience and Brain Technologies Department, Italy 4 Loughborough University, Department of Materials, United Kingdom Introduction: In tissue engineering, stem cell therapies have been proposed to boost the repair of injured tissues. In particular, several studies on the regeneration of the central nervous system have demonstrated the importance of combining neural stem cells (NSCs) and polymer scaffolds. In fact, expandable sources of neurons and properly engineered scaffolds, which can provide neural differentiation to specific lineage, can be instrumental for the effective repair of the neural tissue [1]. Among the different structures of scaffolds, nanofibers are highly attractive for their ability to mimic the extracellular matrix in regenerative medicine [2]. Materials and Methods: In this study, polymer scaffolds, constituted by randomly distributed or aligned nanofibers, were fabricated by electrospinning. The realized fibrous scaffolds were characterized in terms of morphology by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), mechanical properties, and biocompatibility. The attachment, migration and differentiation of neural stem cells were also investigated in random and aligned nanofibers. Results and Discussion: The results of SEM show that the fibers are free from beads and defects and very well aligned in the case of a specific type of scaffold. The Young’s modulus and tensile strength of aligned fibers significantly increase compared to random fibers. The scaffolds are able to promote the proliferation and differentiation of NSCs without laminin functionalization. The NSCs, seeded on the 3D scaffolds, not only attached and proliferated, but also were able to migrate and infiltrate inside the porosity of the fibrous mats. In this way, 3D cellular networks were created. Furthermore, the alignment of the fibers induced the growth of NSCs along one specific direction. In fact, the cells were able to highly elongate following the direction of fibers, creating aligned parallel patterns (Figure 1). Figure 1. Morphology of neural stem cells in the aligned fibers Conclusion: The obtained results demonstrate that the developed scaffolds are characterized by exceptional biocompatibility and that the topographical cues can be advantageously used in neural tissue engineering.