Effect of polyvinylidene fluoride electrospun fiber orientation on neural stem cell differentiation

• Published in: Journal of biomedical materials research. Part B, Applied biomaterials Applied biomaterials, 2017-11, Vol.105 (8), p.2376-2393
• Main Authors: Lins, Luanda C, Wianny, Florence, Livi, Sebastien, Dehay, Colette, Duchet-Rumeau, Jannick, Gérard, Jean-François
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alignment; Animals; Anisotropy; Biological materials; Biological properties; Biomedical materials; Cell differentiation; Cell Differentiation - drug effects; Cell Proliferation - drug effects; Chemical Sciences; Conformation; Differentiation (biology); Electrospinning; Electrostatic properties; Extracellular matrix; Extracellular Matrix - chemistry; Fiber orientation; Fibers; Fluorides; Glial cells; Haplorhini; Jet flow; Material chemistry; Materials research; Materials science; Mechanical properties; Morphology; Neural stem cells; Neural Stem Cells - cytology; Neural Stem Cells - metabolism; Neuronal-glial interactions; Piezoelectricity; Polymers; Polymorphism; Polyvinylidene fluorides; Polyvinyls - chemistry; Polyvinyls - pharmacology; Scaffolds; Stem cells; Tissue engineering; Tissue Scaffolds - chemistry
• ISSN: 1552-4973; 1552-4981
• DOI: 10.1002/jbm.b.33778

Electrospun polymer piezoelectric fibers can be used in neural tissue engineering (NTE) to mimic the physical, biological, and material properties of the native extracellular matrix. In this work, we have developed scaffolds based on polymer fiber architectures for application in NTE. To study the role of such three-dimensional scaffolds, a rotating drum collector was used for electrospinning poly(vinylidene) fluoride (PVDF) polymer at various rotation speeds. The morphology, orientation, polymorphism, as well as the mechanical behavior of the nonaligned and aligned fiber-based architectures were characterized. We have demonstrated that the jet flow and the electrostatic forces generated by electrospinning of PVDF induced local conformation changes which promote the generation of the β-phase. Fiber anisotropy could be a critical feature for the design of suitable scaffolds for NTEs. We thus assessed the impact of PVDF fiber alignment on the behavior of monkey neural stem cells (NSCs). NSCs were seeded on nonaligned and aligned scaffolds and their morphology, adhesion, and differentiation capacities into the neuronal and glial pathways were studied using microscopic techniques. Significant changes in the growth and differentiation capacities of NSCs into neuronal and glial cells as a function of the fiber alignment were evidenced. These results demonstrate that PVDF scaffolds may serve as instructive scaffolds for NSC survival and differentiation, and may be valuable tools for the development of cell- and scaffold-based strategies for neural repair. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 105B: 2376-2393, 2017.