title: Material and mechanical factors: new strategy in cellular neurogenesis.
abstract: Since damaged neural circuits are not generally self-recovered, developing methods to stimulate neurogenesis is critically required. Most studies have examined the effects of soluble pharmacological factors on the cellular neurogenesis. On the other hand, it is now recognized that the other extracellular factors, including material and mechanical cues, also have a strong potential to induce cellular neurogenesis. This article will review recent data on the material (chemical patterning, micro/nano-topography, carbon nanotube, graphene) and mechanical (static cue from substrate stiffness, dynamic cue from stretch and flow shear) stimulations of cellular neurogenesis. These approaches may provide new neural regenerative medicine protocols. Scaffolding material templates capable of triggering cellular neurogenesis can be explored in the presence of neurogenesis-stimulatory mechanical environments, and also with conventional soluble factors, to enhance axonal growth and neural network formation in neural tissue engineering.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Systems Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA.
authors.forename: Hillary
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Stoll
authors.affiliation: The Graduate School of Dentistry, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Il Keun
authors.initials: IK
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.affiliation: The Graduate School of Dentistry, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea ; Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA.
authors.forename: Jung Yul
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Lim
keywords: cellular neurogenesis; material cue; mechanical factor; neural regenerative medicine; soluble signal