Biocompatability of carbon nanotubes with stem cells to treat CNS injuries

Abstract

Cases reporting traumatic injuries to the brain and spinal cord are extended range of disorders that affect a large percentage of the world's population. But, there are only few effective treatments available for central nervous system (CNS) injuries because the CNS is refractory to axonal regeneration and relatively inaccessible to many pharmacological treatments. The use of stem cell therapy in regenerative medicine has been extensively examined to replace lost cells during CNS injuries. But, given the complexity of CNS injuries oxidative stress, toxic byproducts, which prevails in the microenvironment during the diseased condition, may limit the survival of the transplanted stem cells affecting tissue regeneration and even longevity. Carbon nanotubes (CNT) are a new class of nanomaterials, which have been shown to be promising in different areas of nanomedicine for the prevention, diagnosis and therapy of certain diseases, including CNS diseases. In particular, the use of CNTs as substrates/scaffolds for supporting the stem cell differentiation has been an area of active research. Single-walled and multi-walled CNT's have been increasingly used as scaffolds for neuronal growth and more recently for neural stem cell growth and differentiation. This review summarizes recent research on the application of CNT-based materials to direct the differentiation of progenitor and stem cells toward specific neurons and to enhance axon regeneration and synaptogenesis for the effective treatment of CNS injuries. Nonetheless, accumulating data support the use of CNTs as a biocompatible and permissive substrate/scaffold for neural cells and such application holds great potential in neurological research.

Central nervous system toxicity of metallic nanoparticles

“…As a new class of NMs, both single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and multiwalled CNTs (MWCNTs) have been increasingly used as scaffolds for neuronal growth and, more recently, for neural stem cell growth and differentiation. 18 CNT scaffolds have the ability to promote neuron growth, differentiation, and survival, and allow the modification of their electrophysiological properties. 19 For example, the mammalian visual system model is a self-assembling peptide nanofiber scaffold designed by Ellis-Behnke et al 20 and has the ability to regenerate axons at the site of an acute injury and knit the brain tissue together.…”

Diagnosis and Treatment of Neurological and Ischemic Disorders Employing Carbon Nanotube Technology

“…The CNS of mammals has very little auto-repair capability and as a result there is a need for neural stem cells and human mesenchymal stem cells transplantation for recovery of functioning of neurons following neurodegenerative diseases and CNS injuries including stroke [110]. Mesenchymal and neural stem cells interacted well with vertically aligned CNTs and growth on arrays was successful [71].…”

“…CNTs contribute significantly to the advances in tissue engineering for repair of damaged tissues as a result of their mechanical strength and electrical conductivity and resemblance to neurites [110].…”

Uncovering Cortical Modularity by Nanotechnology

“…Multielectrode array aside depicts the potential simultaneous recording with 64 channels to repair or augment using a brain-computer interface Buxhoeveden and Casanova 2002;Mahan and Georgopoulos 2013;Opris and Casanova 2014) as basic modules to repair damaged cortical tissue is becoming a valuable approach for cognitive neuroprosthetics. This may be accomplished by designing artificial minicolumns that can be surgically inserted into the human brain, or using nanowire contacts to place a device with minicolumn function within the damaged circuitry (Lebedev and Nicolelis 2006;Bokara et al 2013;Marmarelis et al 2014). In the future, such microcircuit based prostheses will provide efficient therapies for patients with neurological and psychiatric disorders (Casanova 2007(Casanova , 2013Casanova et al 2008;Chance et al 2011).…”

“…Regenerative medicine, especially for central nervous system, (CNS) has extensively looked into the possibility to use stem cell therapy to replace lost cells during CNS injuries (Bokara et al 2013). However, the survival rate of the transplanted stem cells that affects tissue restoration may be limited by the toxic byproducts and the complexity of the CNS injuries.…”