Laminin-Coated Electrospun Regenerated Silk Fibroin Mats Promote Neural Progenitor Cell Proliferation, Differentiation, and Survival in vitro

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.

Self-assembling peptide hydrogels functionalized with LN- and BDNF- mimicking epitopes synergistically enhance peripheral nerve regeneration

“…LN is a primary component of the basement membrane and heavily involved in nerve regeneration 19 , 20 . LN is secreted by SCs and acts as an adhesive component that promotes the regenerative capacity of basal lamina scaffolds following nerve injury, with previous studies demonstrating its ability to promote neuritogenesis in vitro and in vivo 21 , 22 . Several fragments of the LN sequence were recently identified and tested for their potential bioactivity, with IKVAV (Ile-Lys-Val-Ala-Val) shown to selectively promote SC migration in vitro and capable of easy conjugation to SAPs 23 , 24 .…”

Oriented Neural Spheroid Formation and Differentiation of Neural Stem Cells Guided by Anisotropic Inverse Opals

“…The topography of these materials influences the mechanosensory apparatus and the spatiotemporal dynamics of the cells ( Chen et al, 2014 ), and these cell-material interactions play a key factor in cell behavior regulation ( Guilak et al, 2009 ; Zangi et al, 2016 ). Many kinds of biomaterials have been investigated for guiding cell growth through topography, including nanofibers ( Liu et al, 2010 ; Xie et al, 2014 ; Omidinia-Anarkoli et al, 2017 ; Zuidema et al, 2018 ; Li et al, 2019 ), colloidal nanoparticles ( Antman-Passig et al, 2017 ; Musoke-Zawedde and Shoichet, 2006 ), and inverse opal materials ( Lu et al, 2014 ; Shang et al, 2019 ; Li et al, 2020 ). Among the applied biomaterials, inverse opal materials represent a class of porous structures with an ordered array of uniform nanoscale or microscale pores, which possessed well-controlled pore size, long-range ordered structure, and homogeneous interconnectivity.…”

A Neurophysiological Study of Musical Pitch Identification in Mandarin-Speaking Cochlear Implant Users

“…However, the mammals only have very limited HC regeneration ability; most of the damaged HCs cannot be spontaneously regenerated, which make the HC loss and hearing loss to be irreversible [58][59][60][61][62]. CIs are the most efficient clinical therapeutic devices for sensorineural deafness patients, and recent studies have shown that application of CI-based electric acoustic stimulation together with multiple biomaterials also can promote the differentiation of neural stem cell [63][64][65][66] and promote maturation of spiral ganglion neuron [67][68][69][70]. However, the neurophysiological study of musical pitch identification in CI users is still lacking in the hearing research field.…”