title: Elastic modulus affects the growth and differentiation of neural stem cells.
abstract: It remains poorly understood if carrier hardness, elastic modulus, and contact area affect neural stem cell growth and differentiation. Tensile tests show that the elastic moduli of Tiansu and SMI silicone membranes are lower than that of an ordinary dish, while the elastic modulus of SMI silicone membrane is lower than that of Tiansu silicone membrane. Neural stem cells from the cerebral cortex of embryonic day 16 Sprague-Dawley rats were seeded onto ordinary dishes as well as Tiansu silicone membrane and SMI silicone membrane. Light microscopy showed that neural stem cells on all three carriers show improved adherence. After 7 days of differentiation, neuron specific enolase, glial fibrillary acidic protein, and myelin basic protein expression was detected by immunofluorescence. Moreover, flow cytometry revealed a higher rate of neural stem cell differentiation into astrocytes on Tiansu and SMI silicone membranes than on the ordinary dish, which was also higher on the SMI than the Tiansu silicone membrane. These findings confirm that all three cell carrier types have good biocompatibility, while SMI and Tiansu silicone membranes exhibit good mechanical homogenization. Thus, elastic modulus affects neural stem cell differentiation into various nerve cells. Within a certain range, a smaller elastic modulus results in a more obvious trend of cell differentiation into astrocytes.
authors.affiliation: Affiliated Hospital of Logistics University of People's Armed Police Force, Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: Xian-Feng
authors.initials: XF
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Affiliated Hospital of Logistics University of People's Armed Police Force, Tianjin, China ; Liaoning Medical University, Jinzhou, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Affiliated Hospital of Logistics University of People's Armed Police Force, Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Qing
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Logistics University of People's Armed Police Force, Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: Ying-Fu
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Affiliated Hospital of Logistics University of People's Armed Police Force, Tianjin, China ; Liaoning Medical University, Jinzhou, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: Yuan-Chi
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Affiliated Hospital of Logistics University of People's Armed Police Force, Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: Xu-Yi
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0420-8349
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Affiliated Hospital of Logistics University of People's Armed Police Force, Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: Yue
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-5592-4751
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tu
keywords: astrocytes; carrier; cell differentiation; elastic modulus; immunofluorescence; mechanical properties; nerve regeneration; neural regeneration; neural stem cells; neurons