Department of Genetics, Development, and Cell Biology and Neuroscience Program, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, 50011, USA.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, 50011, USA.
Macromol Biosci. 2019 Feb;19(2):e1800236. doi: 10.1002/mabi.201800236. Epub 2018 Nov 27.
Biomaterials are essential for the development of innovative biomedical and therapeutic applications. Biomaterials-based scaffolds can influence directed cell differentiation to improve cell-based strategies. Using a novel microfluidics approach, poly (ε-caprolactone) (PCL), is used to fabricate microfibers with varying diameters (3-40 µm) and topographies (straight and wavy). Multipotent adult rat hippocampal stem/progenitor cells (AHPCs) are cultured on 3D aligned PCL microfibrous scaffolds to investigate their ability to differentiate into neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes. The results indicate that the PCL microfibers significantly enhance proliferation of the AHPCs compared to control, 2D planar substrates. While the AHPCs maintained their multipotent differentiation capacity when cultured on the PCL scaffolds, there is a significant and dramatic increase in immunolabeling for astrocyte and oligodendrocyte differentiation when compared with growth on planar surfaces. Our results show a 3.5-fold increase in proliferation and 23.4-fold increase in astrocyte differentiation for cells on microfibers. Transplantation of neural stem/progenitor cells within a PCL microfiber scaffold may provide important biological and topographic cues that facilitate the survival, selective differentiation, and integration of transplanted cells to improve therapeutic strategies.
生物材料对于创新的生物医学和治疗应用的发展至关重要。基于生物材料的支架可以影响定向细胞分化，从而改善基于细胞的策略。本研究采用一种新颖的微流控方法，使用聚己内酯（PCL）来制备具有不同直径（3-40μm）和形貌（直形和波形）的微纤维。将多能成年大鼠海马干细胞/祖细胞（AHPCs）培养在 3D 排列的 PCL 微纤维支架上，以研究它们分化为神经元、星形胶质细胞和少突胶质细胞的能力。结果表明，与对照（2D 平面基底）相比，PCL 微纤维显著促进了 AHPCs 的增殖。虽然当在 PCL 支架上培养时，AHPCs 保持其多能分化能力，但与在平面表面上生长相比，星形胶质细胞和少突胶质细胞分化的免疫标记显著增加。我们的结果显示，微纤维上的细胞增殖增加了 3.5 倍，星形胶质细胞分化增加了 23.4 倍。PCL 微纤维内神经干细胞/祖细胞的移植可能提供重要的生物学和形貌线索，促进移植细胞的存活、选择性分化和整合，从而改善治疗策略。
