Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore.
NUS Research Institute, Suzhou, China.
Artif Organs. 2019 May;43(5):515-523. doi: 10.1111/aor.13360. Epub 2018 Nov 12.
The incidence of peripheral nerve injuries is on the rise and the current gold standard for treatment of such injuries is nerve autografting. Given the severe limitations of nerve autografts which include donor site morbidity and limited supply, neural guide conduits (NGCs) are considered as an effective alternative treatment. Conductivity is a desired property of an ideal NGC. Reduced graphene oxide (rGO) possesses several advantages in addition to its conductive nature such as high surface area to volume ratio due to its nanostructure and has been explored for its use in tissue engineering. However, most of the works reported are on traditional 2D culture with a layer of rGO coating, while the native tissue microenvironment is three-dimensional. In this study, PCL/rGO scaffolds are fabricated using electrohydrodynamic jet (EHD-jet) 3D printing method as a proof of concept study. Mechanical and material characterization of the printed PCL/rGO scaffolds and PCL scaffolds was done. The addition of rGO results in softer scaffolds which is favorable for neural differentiation. In vitro neural differentiation studies using PC12 cells were also performed. Cell proliferation was higher in the PCL/rGO scaffolds than the PCL scaffolds. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and immunocytochemistry results reveal that PCL/rGO scaffolds support neural differentiation of PC12 cells.
周围神经损伤的发病率呈上升趋势,目前治疗此类损伤的金标准是神经自体移植。鉴于神经自体移植物存在严重的局限性,包括供体部位发病率和供应有限,神经引导导管(NGC)被认为是一种有效的替代治疗方法。导电性是理想 NGC 的理想特性。还原氧化石墨烯(rGO)除了具有导电性外,由于其纳米结构还具有高表面积与体积比等优点,因此已被探索用于组织工程。然而,大多数已报道的工作都是在传统的二维培养物上进行的,只有一层 rGO 涂层,而天然组织微环境是三维的。在这项研究中,使用静电纺丝 3D 打印方法(EHD-jet)制造了 PCL/rGO 支架,作为概念验证研究。对打印的 PCL/rGO 支架和 PCL 支架进行了机械和材料特性分析。rGO 的添加使支架更柔软,有利于神经分化。还进行了使用 PC12 细胞的体外神经分化研究。PC12 细胞在 PCL/rGO 支架上的增殖率高于 PCL 支架。逆转录聚合酶链反应和免疫细胞化学结果表明 PCL/rGO 支架支持 PC12 细胞的神经分化。