Novel three-dimensional nerve tissue engineering scaffolds and its biocompatibility with Schwann cells.
OBJECTIVE
To develop a novel scaffolding method for the copolymers poly lactide-co-glycolide acid (PLGA) to construct a three-dimensional (3-D) scaffold and explore its biocompatibility through culturing Schwann cells (SCs) on it.


METHODS
The 3-D scaffolds were made by means of melt spinning, extension and weaving. The queueing discipline of the micro-channels were observed under a scanning electronic microscope (SEM).The sizes of the micropores and the factors of porosity were also measured. Sciatic nerves were harvested from 3-day-old Sprague Dawley (SD) rats for culture of SCs. SCs were separated, purified, and then implanted on PLGA scaffolds, gelatin sponge and poly-L-lysine (PLL)-coated tissue culture polystyrene (TCPS) were used as biomaterial and cell-supportive controls, respectively. The effect of PLGA on the adherence, proliferation and apoptosis of SCs were examined in vitro in comparison with gelatin sponge and TCPS.


RESULTS
The micro-channels arrayed in parallel manners, and the pore sizes of the channels were uniform. No significant difference was found in the activity of Schwann cells cultured on PLGA and those on TCPS (P larger than 0.05), and the DNA of PLGA scaffolds was not damaged.


CONCLUSIONS
The 3-D scaffolds developed in this study have excellent structure and biocompatibility, which may be taken as a novel scaffold candidate for nerve-tissue engineering.
Yuan
Jian-Dong
JD
Department of Orthopaedics, Changhai Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China.
Nie
Wen-Bo
WB
Fu
Qiang
Q
Lian
Xiao-Feng
XF
Hou
Tie-Sheng
TS
Tan
Zhi-Qing
ZQ
D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002469:Cell Separation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D019344:Lactic Acid; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D011100:Polyglycolic Acid; D000077182:Polylactic Acid-Polyglycolic Acid Copolymer; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012583:Schwann Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds
D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D000077182:Polylactic Acid-Polyglycolic Acid Copolymer; D011100:Polyglycolic Acid; D019344:Lactic Acid