Biodegradable Cell-Seeded Nanofiber Scaffolds for Neural Repair

Abstract

Central and peripheral neural injuries are traumatic and can lead to loss of motor and sensory function, chronic pain, and permanent disability. Strategies that bridge the site of injury and allow axonal regeneration promise to have a large impact on restoring quality of life for these patients. Engineered materials can be used to guide axonal growth. Specifically, nanofiber structures can mimic the natural extracellular matrix, and aligned nanofibers have been shown to direct neurite outgrowth and support axon regeneration. In addition, cell-seeded scaffolds can assist in the remyelination of the regenerating axons. The electrospinning process allows control over fiber diameter, alignment, porosity, and morphology. Biodegradable polymers have been electrospun and their use in tissue engineering has been demonstrated. This paper discusses aspects of electrospun biodegradable nanofibers for neural regeneration, how fiber alignment affects cell alignment, and how cell-seeded scaffolds can increase the effectiveness of such implants.

Regulation of astrocyte activity via control over stiffness of cellulose acetate electrospun nanofiber

“…For example, cellulose acetate is actively used for bone and cartilage tissue engineering because of its biocompatibility and mechanical strength (Katoh and Urist 1993;Mayer-Wagner et al 2011). In addition, CA has been investigated as a material for vascular tissue and peripheral nervous system recovery (Han and Cheung 2011;Pooyan et al 2012). However, few studies have employed 3D cultures of astrocytes on CA nanofiber.…”

The applications of conductive nanomaterials in the biomedical field

“…Moreover, the amount, length, fusion index, and maturation index of myotubes on the aligned‐PCL/PANI nanofibers were further enhanced, especially myotube numbers increased ∼80% compared with R‐PCL scaffolds. These results indicated that PANI could provide two different types of guidance cues, including topographical and electrical cues, to promote effectively myoblast formation, and well‐aligned fibers can provide better topographical cues for cell growth compared with random fibers . The poly( l ‐lactide‐ co ‐epsilon‐caprolactone) (PLCL)/conductive PANI nanofibers exhibited similar functions, the electrically conductive properties and formation of myotubes on the PLCL/PANI nanofibers were distinctly enhanced (Fig.…”

Biodegradable polymeric nanomaterials

“…However, it is important to note that the degradation rate of polymers is different between the bulk material and the nanofibre-based scaffolds. For some polymers, the degradation rate of larger structures is faster than that of nanofibres due to autocatalysis in larger structures [66]. Nevertheless, the hydrolytic degradation was found to be much more rapid for nanofibrous scaffolds obtained by TIPS in comparison to solid-walled scaffolds, even if the wettability in the nanofibrous scaffold is smaller because of small interfibre spacing and the large amount of relatively-hydrophobic surface area.…”