Bioactive Nanofibers:  Synergistic Effects of Nanotopography and Chemical Signaling on Cell Guidance

Abstract

Biodegradable nanofibers have tremendous potential for tissue repair. However, the combined effects of nanofiber organization and immobilized bioactive factors on cell guidance are not well understood. In this study, we developed aligned and bioactive nanofibrous scaffolds by immobilizing extracellular matrix protein and growth factor onto nanofibers, which simulated the physical and biochemical properties of native matrix fibrils. The aligned nanofibers significantly induced neurite outgrowth and enhanced skin cell migration during wound healing compared to randomly oriented nanofibers. Furthermore, the immobilized biochemical factors (as efficient as soluble factors) synergized with aligned nanofibers to promote highly efficient neurite outgrowth but had less effect on skin cell migration. This study shed light on the relative importance of nanotopography and chemical signaling in the guidance of different cell behavior.

Scaffolds for Peripheral Nerve Regeneration, the Importance of In Vitro and In Vivo Studies for the Development of Cell-Based Therapies and Biomaterials: State of the Art

“…Resource to extracellular matrix materials, such as fibronectin, laminin and collagen, give naturally hydrophobic scaffolds a hydrophilic surface that promotes cell adhesion [73,116,174]. Collagen Type I conduits coated with laminin and fibronectin have shown improved neural regeneration [175,176]. With that intend, new peptides have been engineered to mimic the active binding domains of various extracellular matrix molecules [177,178].…”

Biomaterials for Enhancing Neuronal Repair

“…Cues or properties are compared for relative impact on neuronal behavior and development (Table 1). While the integration of chemical cues into materials has been widely employed in other neuronal studies (Moore et al, 2006;Patel et al, 2007;Millet et al, 2010), the influence of chemical signals is intertwined in the discussion of the aforementioned parameters. This review focuses on neurons, while discussion of neural repair of all major cell populations within the nervous system, including glia, has been considered elsewhere (Schmidt and Leach, 2003;Tian et al, 2015).…”

Hierarchical wrinkling patterns

“…6,7 Various techniques have been employed for the fabrication of micro-and nano-structures on solid substrates, such as colloidal lithography, 8 polymer demixing, 9 electrospinning, 10 nanoimprinting 11 or dip-pen lithography. 12 However these methods have severe drawbacks, including high cost, the substantial inconvenience of using clean room facilities and their inability to generate complex patterns with gradients of amplitudes and tailor-made geometries.…”