Silk nanofibrous electrospun scaffold enhances differentiation of embryonic stem like cells derived from testis in to mature neuron.

The scaffolds accompanied with stem cells have great potential for applications in neural tissue engineering. Fabrication of nanofibrous scaffold similar to extracellular matrix is one of the applicable methods in neural tissue regeneration. The aim of this study was the fabrication of a silk nanofibrous scaffold as a microenvironment for neural guiding differentiation of embryonic stem like cells (ES Like cells) derived from testis toward neuron-like cells. ES Like derived from culturing of testicular cells in vitro, were seeded on silk scaffolds and induced to neuronal phenotype using 4-/4± RA technique following culturing the cells in the neurobasal medium supplemented with 20 ng/mL bFGF,10 ng/mL EGF, B27, and N2 for 8-12 days. The neural differentiation was confirmed via the evaluation of specific neural markers; Nestin, NF68, MAP2 and β tubulin using immunocytochemistry and real-time polymerase chain reaction. Our results showed that silk scaffold support the attachment and proliferation of ES Like cells. The expression of Nestin, NF68, Map2, and ß tubulin markers were higher in cells grown on silk scaffold in compare to monolayer group. This study suggests electrospun silk nanofibrous scaffold as an appropriate substrate for neural induction of stem cells that is applicable for repairmen of damaged neural tissues. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 106A: 2662-2669, 2018.