The Proliferation Study of hiPS Cell-Derived Neuronal Progenitors on Poly-Caprolactone Scaffold

Introduction: The native inability of nervous system to regenerate, encourage researchers to consider neural tissue engineering as a potential treatment for spinal cord injuries. Considering the suitable characteristics of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) for tissue regeneration applications, in this study we investigated the adhesion, viability and proliferation of neural progenitors (derived from human iPSCs) on aligned poly-caprolactone (PCL) nanofibers. Methods: Aligned poly-caprolactone nanofibrous scaffold was fabricated by electrospinning and characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Through neural induction, neural progenitor cells were derived from induced pluripotent stem cells. After cell seeding on the scaffolds, their proliferation was investigated on different days of culture. Results: According to the SEM micrographs, the electrospun PCL scaffolds were aligned along with uniformed morphology. Evaluation of adhesion and viability of neural progenitor cells on plate (control) and PCL scaffold illustrated increasing trends in proliferation but this rate was higher in scaffold group. The statistical analyses confirmed significant differences between groups on 36h and 48h. Discussion: Evaluation of cell proliferation along with morphological assessments, staining and SEM finding suggested biocompatibility of the PCL scaffolds and suitability of the combination of the mentioned scaffold and human iPS cells for neural regeneration.