Ahmed Umalkhair, Iwasa Stephanie N, Poloni Laura, Ahlfors Jan-Eric, Yip Christopher, Popovic Milos R, Morshead Cindi M
Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, Departments of University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Surgery and University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Bioelectricity. 2020 Sep 1;2(3):229-237. doi: 10.1089/bioe.2019.0037. Epub 2020 Sep 16.
Neural precursor cells (NPCs) hold great promise for neural repair. Endogenous NPCs, found in the subventricular zone of the adult brain, proliferate and migrate toward lesion sites; however, it is not sufficient for neural repair. NPCs are electrosensitive cells that undergo directed migration in an electric field (EF). Here, we examined the EF-induced migration of a clinically relevant human NPC population. We examined the effects of different substrates and microenvironments on human NPC galvanotaxis. Human NPCs increased their migration speed in the presence of an EF, and the direction of migration (anodal vs. cathodal) varied between substrates. The secretome and extracellular pH were not significant factors in EF-induced migration; however, our results are consistent with substrate stiffness playing a role in the direction of cell migration. These findings provide insight into the importance of the microenvironment on modulating human NPC migration and highlight substrate-dependent considerations for neurorepair.
神经前体细胞（NPCs）在神经修复方面具有巨大潜力。成人大脑脑室下区发现的内源性NPCs会增殖并向损伤部位迁移；然而，这对于神经修复来说并不足够。NPCs是电敏感细胞，会在电场（EF）中进行定向迁移。在此，我们研究了电场诱导的具有临床相关性的人类NPC群体的迁移。我们研究了不同底物和微环境对人类NPC趋电性的影响。在存在电场的情况下，人类NPCs提高了其迁移速度，并且迁移方向（阳极与阴极）在不同底物之间有所不同。分泌组和细胞外pH并非电场诱导迁移的显著因素；然而，我们的结果与底物硬度在细胞迁移方向上发挥作用一致。这些发现为微环境对调节人类NPC迁移的重要性提供了见解，并突出了神经修复中依赖底物的考虑因素。
