Regeneration of the peripheral nerve via multifunctional electrospun scaffolds

Abstract

Over the last two decades, electrospun scaffolds have proved to be advantageous in the field of nerve tissue regeneration by connecting the cavity among the proximal and distal nerve stumps growth cones and leading to functional recovery after injury. Multifunctional nanofibrous structure of these scaffolds provides enormous potential by combining the advantages of nano‐scale topography, and biological science. In these structures, selecting the appropriate materials, designing an optimized structure, modifying the surface to enhance biological functions and neurotrophic factors loading, and native cell‐like stem cells should be considered as the essential factors. In this systematic review paper, the fabrication methods for the preparation of aligned nanofibrous scaffolds in yarn or conduit architecture are reviewed. Subsequently, the utilized polymeric materials, including natural, synthetic and blend are presented. Finally, their surface modification techniques, as well as, the recent advances and outcomes of the scaffolds, both in vitro and in vivo, are reviewed and discussed.

Enhancement of Neuroglial Extracellular Matrix Formation and Physiological Activity of Dopaminergic Neural Cocultures by Macromolecular Crowding

“…In our experiments, induction of ECM secretion with MMC and ascorbic acid induced small but significant changes in expression of GFAP on astrocytes. Moreover, when culturing the neurons on top of the MMC-treated astrocytes, the filament-like ECM mesh remarkably aligns itself with mature neurites’ outgrowth, creating a morphological microenvironment similar to neural cocultures in 3D gel-based scaffold (Kundu et al, 2022, manuscript under review) [ 52 , 53 ].…”

Advances in Electrospun Nerve Guidance Conduits for Engineering Neural Regeneration

“…Additionally, surface modification with polydopamine has been shown to improve the hydrophilicity and stability of the material surface, leading to effective cell growth, adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation relevant for applications for peripheral nerve regeneration [47]. Functionalizing with conductive compounds, crosslinking of nano bioglass, and nerve growth factor immobilization are other common chemical surface modification approaches [48].…”

Nerve Growth Factor Biodelivery: A Limiting Step in Moving Toward Extensive Clinical Application?

“…Electrospun nanofibers with a defined micro/nanoarchitecture in terms of fiber size (fiber diameters range from a few hundreds of nanometers to tens of micrometers) and fiber orientation, have been used as a scaffold for a wide range of tissue engineering applications including neural, cardiovascular, bone and skin tissue engineering. Nanofibrous electrospun scaffolds offer a promising alternative to autologous grafting in peripheral nerve injuries, and have been extensively studied for neural tissue repair and regeneration (Ghane et al, 2021), due to their ability to act both as matrices for cells and as a delivery vehicle for various biomolecules such as NGF and glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) (Liu et al, 2018;Bighinati et al, 2020). There are several reasons for the great interest in electrospun constructs in neural tissue engineering: ease of manufacture, production using a variety of natural and synthetic polymers, structural similarity with the extracellular matrix, and tunable morphology and mechanical properties.…”