Abstract
Traumatic injury to the central nervous system (CNS) triggers cell death and deafferentation, which may activate a cascade of cellular and network disturbances. These events often result in the formation of irregularly shaped lesions comprised of necrotic tissue and/or a fluid-filled cavity. Tissue engineering represents a promising treatment strategy for the injured neural tissue. To facilitate minimally invasive delivery of a tissue engineered system, a thermoreversible polymer is an attractive scaffold candidate. We have developed a bioactive scaffold for neural tissue engineering by tethering laminin-1 (LN) to methylcellulose (MC), a thermoresponsive hydrogel. The base MC chain was oxidized via sodium m-periodate to increase MC tethering capacity. Protein immobilization was facilitated by a Schiff base reaction between primary amine groups on LN and the carbonyl groups of the oxidized MC chain. Immunoassays demonstrated tethering of LN at 1.6 ± 0.5 ng of LN per milligram of MC. Rheological measurements for different MC-LN constructs indicated MC composition- and MC treatment-dependent effects on solution-gelation transition temperature. Cellular assays with primary rat cortical neurons demonstrated enhanced cell adhesion and viability on LN-functionalized MC when compared with base and oxidized MC. This bioadhesive thermoresponsive scaffold may provide a robust delivery vehicle to injured CNS tissue for neural cell transplantation strategies.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 718-725 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Journal of Biomedical Materials Research - Part A |
Volume | 77 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jun 15 2006 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Hydrogel
- Laminin
- Neural tissue engineering
- Protein immobilization
- Thermally responsive materials
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ceramics and Composites
- Biomaterials
- Biomedical Engineering
- Metals and Alloys