A functional scaffold to promote the migration and neuronal differentiation of neural stem/progenitor cells for spinal cord injury repair. (June 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Liu, Weiyuan; Xu, Bai; Xue, Weiwei; Yang, Bin; Fan, Yongheng; Chen, Bing; Xiao, Zhifeng; Xue, Xiaoyu; Sun, Zheng; Shu, Muya; Zhang, Qi; Shi, Ya; Zhao, Yannan; Dai, Jianwu
• Is Part Of: Biomaterials. Volume 243(2020:Jun.)
• Publication Date: 2020-06
• Subjects: N-cadherin -- Neural stem/progenitor cells -- Spinal cord injury -- Collagen scaffold; Biomedical materials -- Periodicals; Biocompatible Materials -- Periodicals; Biomatériaux -- Périodiques; 610.28
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2020.119941
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0142-9612

Abstract

Abstract: After spinal cord injury (SCI), endogenous neural/progenitor stem cells (NSPCs) were activated in neural tissue adjacent to the injured segment, but few cells migrated to the injury epicenter and differentiated into neurons. N-cadherin regulates mechanical adhesion between NSPCs, and also drives NSPCs migration and promotes NSPCs differentiation. In this study, linearly ordered collagen scaffold (LOCS) was modified with N-cadherin through a two-step cross-linking between thiol and amino group. The results indicated that N-cadherin modification improved the adhesion of NSPCs on collagen scaffold and increased the differentiation into neurons. When LOCS-Ncad was transplanted into complete transected rat spinal cords, more NSPCs migrated to the lesion center and more newborn neurons appeared within the injury site. Furthermore, rats transplanted with LOCS-Ncad showed significantly improved locomotor recovery compared with the rats without implants. Collectively, our results suggest that LOCS-Ncad may be a promising treatment option to facilitate SCI repair by recruiting endogenous NSPCs to the lesion center and promoting neuronal differentiation.