The Affiliated Bayi Brain Hospital, Bayi Clinical College, Southern Medical University , No. 1838, North of Guangzhou Avenue, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong, China.
Biomacromolecules. 2014 Mar 10;15(3):1062-8. doi: 10.1021/bm500062n. Epub 2014 Feb 26.
Neural stem/progenitor cells (NS/PCs) play a therapeutic role in nervous system diseases and contribute to functional recovery. However, their efficacy is limited as the majority of cells die post-transplantation. In this study, collagen sponges were utilized as carriers for NS/PCs. Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), a mitogen for NS/PCs, was incorporated into the collagen sponges to stimulate NS/PC proliferation. However, the effect of native bFGF is limited because it diffuses into the culture medium and is lost following medium exchange. To overcome this problem, a collagen-binding polypeptide domain, which has high affinity to collagen, was fused with bFGF to sustain the exposure of NS/PCs within the collagen sponges to bFGF. The results indicated that the number of NS/PCs was significantly higher in collagen sponges incorporating engineered bFGF than in those with native bFGF or the PBS control after 7 days in culture. Here, we designed a natural biological neural scaffold consisting of collagen sponges, engineered bFGF, and NS/PCs. In addition to the effect of proliferated NS/PCs, the engineered bFGF retained in the natural biological neural scaffolds could have a direct effect on nervous system reconstruction. The two aspects of the natural biological neural scaffolds may produce synergistic effects, and so they represent a promising candidate for nervous system repair.
神经干细胞/祖细胞（NS/PCs）在神经系统疾病中具有治疗作用，并有助于功能恢复。然而，由于大多数细胞在移植后死亡，其疗效受到限制。在本研究中，胶原海绵被用作 NS/PCs 的载体。碱性成纤维细胞生长因子（bFGF）是 NS/PCs 的有丝分裂原，被掺入胶原海绵中以刺激 NS/PC 增殖。然而，内源性 bFGF 的效果是有限的，因为它会扩散到培养基中，并在更换培养基后丢失。为了解决这个问题，与 bFGF 融合的胶原结合多肽结构域与胶原具有高亲和力，以维持 NS/PCs 在胶原海绵中的暴露于 bFGF。结果表明，在培养 7 天后，掺入工程化 bFGF 的胶原海绵中 NS/PCs 的数量明显高于掺入内源性 bFGF 或 PBS 对照的胶原海绵。在这里，我们设计了一种由胶原海绵、工程化 bFGF 和 NS/PCs 组成的天然生物神经支架。除了增殖的 NS/PCs 的作用外，保留在天然生物神经支架中的工程化 bFGF 可能对神经系统重建产生直接影响。天然生物神经支架的两个方面可能产生协同作用，因此它们是神经系统修复的有前途的候选者。
