Enhancement of Proliferation of Schwann cells on Magnetic Silk Fibroin Scaffolds.
Taneja, Aashna.
2013
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Abstract: Peripheral
nerve injury affects 2.8% of patients with trauma, presenting a critical clinical issue.
The neurons regenerate their axons after injury and Schwann cells within the denervated
nerve pathways support the regenerating axons. In the past decade, studies related to
Schwann cells have mainly focused on delivering the cells to the repair site to promote
neural cell growth but ... read morehave not focused on enhancing the growth of Schwann cells to
further help in increase the rate of axon regeneration. The goal of this project was to
enhance the growth of Schwann cells by developing silk fibroin electrospun mats to mimic
the hierarchical structure of the extracellular matrix in combination with biocompatible
and biodegradable Fe3O4 nanoparticles with magnetic stimulations. To accomplish this
goal, varying concentrations of Fe3O4 nanopowders were used with silk solution to
prepare electrospun mats at different voltages. A series of experiments was carried out
to characterize the electrospun mats such as Scanning Electron microscopy (SEM),
Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR),
X-Ray Powder Diffraction (XRD), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Superconducting
Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) magnetometer testing and Instron Mechanical testing.
Schwann cells (ATCC) were seeded on the mats and Alamar blue cell viability studies
revealed that the growth of Schwann cells was enhanced on the mats with 7 wt. % Fe3O4 on
Day 1. In addition, magnetic silk fibroin electropun mats had no impact on the growth
and proliferation of Schwann cells indicating that these mats had no cytotoxic effects
on Schwann cells. Based on these results, magnetic silk fibroin electrospun mats could
be pursued as scaffolds for neural tissue
engineering.
Thesis (M.S.)--Tufts University, 2013.
Submitted to the Dept. of Biomedical Engineering.
Advisor: David Kaplan.
Committee: Peggy Cebe, and Qiaobing Xu.
Keywords: Biomedical engineering, and Neurosciences.read less - ID:
- hd76sb148
- Component ID:
- tufts:22025
- To Cite:
- TARC Citation Guide EndNote
