title: Thermally drawn fibers as nerve guidance scaffolds.
abstract: Synthetic neural scaffolds hold promise to eventually replace nerve autografts for tissue repair following peripheral nerve injury. Despite substantial evidence for the influence of scaffold geometry and dimensions on the rate of axonal growth, systematic evaluation of these parameters remains a challenge due to limitations in materials processing. We have employed fiber drawing to engineer a wide spectrum of polymer-based neural scaffolds with varied geometries and core sizes. Using isolated whole dorsal root ganglia as an in vitro model system we have identified key features enhancing nerve growth within these fiber scaffolds. Our approach enabled straightforward integration of microscopic topography at the scale of nerve fascicles within the scaffold cores, which led to accelerated Schwann cell migration, as well as neurite growth and alignment. Our findings indicate that fiber drawing provides a scalable and versatile strategy for producing nerve guidance channels capable of controlling direction and accelerating the rate of axonal growth.
authors.affiliation: Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Department of Chemical Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Ryan A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Koppes
authors.affiliation: Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Seongjun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Tiffany
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hood
authors.affiliation: Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Xiaoting
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States.
authors.forename: Negin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Abdolrahim Poorheravi
authors.affiliation: Draper Laboratory, 555 Technology Square, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Anilkumar Harapanahalli
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Achyuta
authors.affiliation: Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Yoel
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fink
authors.affiliation: Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Electronic address: anikeeva@mit.edu.
authors.forename: Polina
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Anikeeva
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D005727:Ganglia, Spinal / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D048091:Guided Tissue Regeneration / Q000379:methods*; D008422:Materials Testing; D009416:Nerve Regeneration / Q000187:drug effects*; D016501:Neurites / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D011108:Polymers / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013696:Temperature; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D011108:Polymers
keywords: Fiber drawing; Neural scaffold; Peripheral nerve repair; Tissue engineering