Engineering three-dimensional nervous tissue constructs based on fiber-gel substrates

Author

Siriwardane, M.L. ; Pfister, B.J.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Biomed. Eng., New Jersey Inst. of Technol., Newark, NJ, USA

fYear

2010

fDate

26-28 March 2010

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

2

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) nervous tissue constructs were developed using a compliant gel matrix and a fiber component for promoting contact-guided axon outgrowth. Rat embryonic (E15) dorsal root ganglion expiants (DRGs) were cultured on biodegradable poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA) and wet-spun type I collagen fibers embedded in soft collagen gels. Gel constructs containing fibers induced greater axon outgrowth distances with significantly more directionality along the aligned fibers. Interestingly, wet-spun type I collagen from rat tail tendon displayed a highly aligned outgrowth pattern from DRG axons suggesting potential use for peripheral nerve repair.

Keywords

biomedical materials; cellular biophysics; gels; molecular biophysics; neurophysiology; polymers; proteins; substrates; 3D nervous tissue constructs; PLLA; axon outgrowth distance; biodegradable poly-L-lactic acid; compliant gel matrix; contact guided axon outgrowth; dorsal root ganglion expiants; fiber component; fiber-gel substrates; peripheral nerve repair; rat embryonic DRG expiants; rat tail tendon; soft collagen gels; wet spun type I collagen fibers; Biodegradable materials; Embryo; Nerve fibers; Tail; Tendons;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Bioengineering Conference, Proceedings of the 2010 IEEE 36th Annual Northeast

Conference_Location

New York, NY

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-6879-9

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/NEBC.2010.5458119

Filename

5458119