Directional Submicrofiber Hydrogel Composite Scaffolds Supporting Neuron Differentiation and Enabling Neurite Alignment

Directional Submicrofiber Hydrogel Composite Scaffolds Supporting Neuron Differentiation and Enabling Neurite Alignment

Cell cultures aiming at tissue regeneration benefit from scaffolds with physiologically relevant elastic moduli to optimally trigger cell attachment, proliferation and promote differentiation, guidance and tissue maturation. Complex scaffolds designed with guiding cues can mimic the anisotropic natu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of molecular sciences Vol. 23; no. 19; p. 11525
Main Authors: Mungenast, Lena, Züger, Fabian, Selvi, Jasmin, Faia-Torres, Ana Bela, Rühe, Jürgen, Suter-Dick, Laura, Gullo, Maurizio R.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Basel MDPI AG 01-10-2022
MDPI
Subjects:
Axons
Biocompatibility
Cell adhesion
Cell culture
Cell differentiation
Cell proliferation
Cells (biology)
Composite materials
Differentiation
electrospinning
Extracellular matrix
Fiber composites
fiber-hydrogel scaffold
Filaments
Gelatin
Hydrogels
Modulus of elasticity
Morphology
Nervous system
neural cell guiding
Neural stem cells
neurite alignment
Neurons
Physiology
Polycaprolactone
Polymers
Progenitor cells
Regeneration
Regeneration (physiology)
Scaffolds
Spinal cord
Stiffness
Tissue engineering
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Summary:Cell cultures aiming at tissue regeneration benefit from scaffolds with physiologically relevant elastic moduli to optimally trigger cell attachment, proliferation and promote differentiation, guidance and tissue maturation. Complex scaffolds designed with guiding cues can mimic the anisotropic nature of neural tissues, such as spinal cord or brain, and recall the ability of human neural progenitor cells to differentiate and align. This work introduces a cost-efficient gelatin-based submicron patterned hydrogel–fiber composite with tuned stiffness, able to support cell attachment, differentiation and alignment of neurons derived from human progenitor cells. The enzymatically crosslinked gelatin-based hydrogels were generated with stiffnesses from 8 to 80 kPa, onto which poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) alignment cues were electrospun such that the fibers had a preferential alignment. The fiber–hydrogel composites with a modulus of about 20 kPa showed the strongest cell attachment and highest cell proliferation, rendering them an ideal differentiation support. Differentiated neurons aligned and bundled their neurites along the aligned PCL filaments, which is unique to this cell type on a fiber–hydrogel composite. This novel scaffold relies on robust and inexpensive technology and is suitable for neural tissue engineering where directional neuron alignment is required, such as in the spinal cord.
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content type line 23
ISSN:1422-0067
1661-6596
1422-0067
DOI:10.3390/ijms231911525