Anisotropic Architecture and Electrical Stimulation Enhance Neuron Cell Behaviour on a Tough Graphene Embedded PVA: Alginate Fibrous Scaffold

Overview

Journal RSC Adv

Publisher Royal Society of Chemistry

Specialty Chemistry

Date 2022 May 11

PMID 35540432

Authors

Nasim Golafshan

Mahshid Kharaziha

Mohammadhossein Fathi

Benjamin L Larson

Giorgio Giatsidis

Nafiseh Masoumi

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Tough scaffolds comprised of aligned and conductive fibers are promising for peripheral nerve regeneration due to their unique mechanical and electrical properties. Several studies have confirmed that electrical stimulation can control the axonal extension . However, the stimulatory effects of scaffold architecture and electrical stimulation have not yet been investigated in detail. Here, we assessed a comparison between aligned and random fibers made of graphene (Gr) embedded sodium alginate (SA) polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) (Gr-AP scaffolds) for peripheral nerve engineering. The effects of applied electrical stimulation and orientation of the fabricated fibers on the attachment, alignment, and proliferation of PC12 cells (a rat neuronal cell line) were investigated. The results revealed that the aligned fibrous Gr-AP scaffolds closely mimicked the anisotropic structure of the native sciatic nerve. Aligned fibrous Gr-AP scaffolds significantly improved mechanical properties as well as cell-scaffold integration compared to random fibrous scaffolds. In addition, electrical stimulation significantly improved PC12 cell proliferation. In summary, our findings revealed that aligned fibrous Gr-AP scaffolds offered superior mechanical characteristics and structural properties that enhanced neural cell-substrate interactions, resulting in a promising construct for nerve tissue regeneration.

Citing Articles

Exploring the biocompatibility and healing activity of actinobacterial-enhanced reduced nano-graphene oxide in in vitro and in vivo model and induce bone regeneration through modulation of OPG/RANKL/RUNX2/ALP pathways.

Kavitha K, Navaneethan D, Balagurunathan R, Subramaniam R, Rafi Shaik M, Guru A Mol Biol Rep. 2024; 51(1):702.

PMID: 38822942 DOI: 10.1007/s11033-024-09600-8.

Peripheral nerve injury repair by electrical stimulation combined with graphene-based scaffolds.

Zhao Y, Liu Y, Kang S, Sun D, Liu Y, Wang X Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2024; 12:1345163.

PMID: 38481574 PMC: 10933080. DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2024.1345163.

Alginate: Enhancement Strategies for Advanced Applications.

Hurtado A, Aljabali A, Mishra V, Tambuwala M, Serrano-Aroca A Int J Mol Sci. 2022; 23(9).

PMID: 35562876 PMC: 9102972. DOI: 10.3390/ijms23094486.

Graphene-Based Materials Prove to Be a Promising Candidate for Nerve Regeneration Following Peripheral Nerve Injury.

Aleemardani M, Zare P, Seifalian A, Bagher Z, Seifalian A Biomedicines. 2022; 10(1).

PMID: 35052753 PMC: 8773001. DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines10010073.

Engineering Tissues of the Central Nervous System: Interfacing Conductive Biomaterials with Neural Stem/Progenitor Cells.

Bierman-Duquette R, Safarians G, Huang J, Rajput B, Chen J, Wang Z Adv Healthc Mater. 2021; 11(7):e2101577.

PMID: 34808031 PMC: 8986557. DOI: 10.1002/adhm.202101577.

References

Genchi G, Ciofani G, Polini A, Liakos I, Iandolo D, Athanassiou A . PC12 neuron-like cell response to electrospun poly( 3-hydroxybutyrate) substrates. J Tissue Eng Regen Med. 2012; 9(2):151-61. DOI: 10.1002/term.1623. View

Kotwal A, Schmidt C . Electrical stimulation alters protein adsorption and nerve cell interactions with electrically conducting biomaterials. Biomaterials. 2001; 22(10):1055-64. DOI: 10.1016/s0142-9612(00)00344-6. View

Zhang K, Zheng H, Liang S, Gao C . Aligned PLLA nanofibrous scaffolds coated with graphene oxide for promoting neural cell growth. Acta Biomater. 2016; 37:131-42. DOI: 10.1016/j.actbio.2016.04.008. View

Engelmayr Jr G, Cheng M, Bettinger C, Borenstein J, Langer R, Freed L . Accordion-like honeycombs for tissue engineering of cardiac anisotropy. Nat Mater. 2008; 7(12):1003-10. PMC: 2613200. DOI: 10.1038/nmat2316. View

Masoumi N, Larson B, Annabi N, Kharaziha M, Zamanian B, Shapero K . Electrospun PGS:PCL microfibers align human valvular interstitial cells and provide tunable scaffold anisotropy. Adv Healthc Mater. 2014; 3(6):929-39. PMC: 4053480. DOI: 10.1002/adhm.201300505. View

Masoumi N, Annabi N, Assmann A, Larson B, Hjortnaes J, Alemdar N . Tri-layered elastomeric scaffolds for engineering heart valve leaflets. Biomaterials. 2014; 35(27):7774-85. PMC: 4114056. DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2014.04.039. View

Kharaziha M, Shin S, Nikkhah M, Topkaya S, Masoumi N, Annabi N . Tough and flexible CNT-polymeric hybrid scaffolds for engineering cardiac constructs. Biomaterials. 2014; 35(26):7346-54. PMC: 4114042. DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2014.05.014. View

Prabhakaran M, Ghasemi-Mobarakeh L, Jin G, Ramakrishna S . Electrospun conducting polymer nanofibers and electrical stimulation of nerve stem cells. J Biosci Bioeng. 2011; 112(5):501-7. DOI: 10.1016/j.jbiosc.2011.07.010. View

Weber R, Breidenbach W, Brown R, Jabaley M, Mass D . A randomized prospective study of polyglycolic acid conduits for digital nerve reconstruction in humans. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2000; 106(5):1036-45; discussion 1046-8. DOI: 10.1097/00006534-200010000-00013. View

10.

Park H, Bhalla R, Saigal R, Radisic M, Watson N, Langer R . Effects of electrical stimulation in C2C12 muscle constructs. J Tissue Eng Regen Med. 2008; 2(5):279-87. PMC: 2782921. DOI: 10.1002/term.93. View

11.

Wang X, Lou T, Zhao W, Song G, Li C, Cui G . The effect of fiber size and pore size on cell proliferation and infiltration in PLLA scaffolds on bone tissue engineering. J Biomater Appl. 2016; 30(10):1545-51. DOI: 10.1177/0885328216636320. View

12.

Zou Y, Qin J, Huang Z, Yin G, Pu X, He D . Fabrication of Aligned Conducting PPy-PLLA Fiber Films and Their Electrically Controlled Guidance and Orientation for Neurites. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2016; 8(20):12576-82. DOI: 10.1021/acsami.6b00957. View

13.

Xie J, MacEwan M, Schwartz A, Xia Y . Electrospun nanofibers for neural tissue engineering. Nanoscale. 2010; 2(1):35-44. DOI: 10.1039/b9nr00243j. View

14.

Isaacs J, Browne T . Overcoming short gaps in peripheral nerve repair: conduits and human acellular nerve allograft. Hand (N Y). 2014; 9(2):131-7. PMC: 4022952. DOI: 10.1007/s11552-014-9601-6. View

15.

Masaeli E, Wieringa P, Morshed M, Nasr-Esfahani M, Sadri S, van Blitterswijk C . Peptide functionalized polyhydroxyalkanoate nanofibrous scaffolds enhance Schwann cells activity. Nanomedicine. 2014; 10(7):1559-69. DOI: 10.1016/j.nano.2014.04.008. View

16.

Kim M, Kim G . Three-dimensional electrospun polycaprolactone (PCL)/alginate hybrid composite scaffolds. Carbohydr Polym. 2014; 114:213-221. DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2014.08.008. View

17.

Ghasemi-Mobarakeh L, Prabhakaran M, Morshed M, Nasr-Esfahani M, Ramakrishna S . Electrospun poly(epsilon-caprolactone)/gelatin nanofibrous scaffolds for nerve tissue engineering. Biomaterials. 2008; 29(34):4532-9. DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2008.08.007. View

18.

Gupta D, Venugopal J, Prabhakaran M, Dev V, Low S, Choon A . Aligned and random nanofibrous substrate for the in vitro culture of Schwann cells for neural tissue engineering. Acta Biomater. 2009; 5(7):2560-9. DOI: 10.1016/j.actbio.2009.01.039. View

19.

Xu C, Kou Y, Zhang P, Han N, Yin X, Deng J . Electrical stimulation promotes regeneration of defective peripheral nerves after delayed repair intervals lasting under one month. PLoS One. 2014; 9(9):e105045. PMC: 4152131. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0105045. View

20.

English A, Azeem A, Gaspar D, Keane K, Kumar P, Keeney M . Preferential cell response to anisotropic electro-spun fibrous scaffolds under tension-free conditions. J Mater Sci Mater Med. 2011; 23(1):137-48. DOI: 10.1007/s10856-011-4471-8. View