Laminin-coated nerve guidance conduits based on poly(l-lactide-co-glycolide) fibers and yarns for promoting Schwann cells' proliferation and migration

• Published in: Journal of materials chemistry. B, Materials for biology and medicine Vol. 5; no. 17; pp. 3186 - 3194
• Main Authors: Wu, Tong, Li, Dandan, Wang, Yuanfei, Sun, Binbin, Li, Dawei, Morsi, Yosry, El-Hamshary, Hany, Al-Deyab, Salem S, Mo, Xiumei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 07.05.2017
• Subjects: Conduits; Cues; Electrospinning; Fibers; Migration; Nerves; Topology; Yarns
• ISSN: 2050-750X; 2050-7518
• DOI: 10.1039/c6tb03330j

To develop an effective nerve guidance conduit with cooperative effects of topological structure and biological cues for promoting Schwann cells' (SCs) proliferation and migration, a laminin-coated and yarn-encapsulated poly(l-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) nerve guidance conduit (LC-YE-PLGA NGC) was fabricated in this study. The PLGA fiber yarns were fabricated through a double-nozzle electrospinning system and then the PLGA fibrous outer layer was collected using a general electrospinning method. Subsequently, laminin was coated on the yarn-encapsulated PLGA NGC through covalent binding. The results showed satisfactory tensile mechanical strength of the laminin-coated PLGA fibers/yarns and good compressive mechanical support of the LC-YE-PLGA NGC. SCs proliferation was significantly superior (p < 0.05) on the PLGA and laminin-coated PLGA yarns than the PLGA fibers. Furthermore, the LC-YE-PLGA NGC performed much better in SCs migration compared with the NGCs without yarn-encapsulation or laminin-coating, indicating the synergistic effect of the three-dimensional yarn structure (topological structure) and the laminin-coating (biological cues) for SCs proliferation and migration. Therefore, the LC-YE-PLGA NGC demonstrated promising potential in promoting SCs proliferation and inducing SCs migration in nerve tissue engineering.