Abstract

Following central nervous system (CNS) injury, activated astrocytes form a glial scar that inhibits the migration of axons ultimately leading to regeneration failure. Biomaterials developed for CNS repair can provide local delivery of therapeutics and/or guidance mechanisms to encourage cell migration into damaged regions of the brain or spinal cord. Electro spun fibers are a promising type of biomaterial for CNS injury since these fibers can direct cellular and axonal migration while slowly delivering therapy to the injury site. In this study, it was hypothesized that inclusion of an anti-metabolite, 6-aminonicotinamide (6AN), within poly-l-lactic acid electro spun fibers could attenuate astrocyte metabolic activity while still directing axonal outgrowth. Electrospinning parameters were varied to produce highly aligned electro spun fibers that contained 10% or 20% (w/w) 6AN. 6AN release from the fiber substrates occurred continuously over 2 weeks. Astrocytes placed onto drug-releasing fibers were less active than those cultured on scaffolds without 6AN. Dorsal root ganglia placed onto control and drug-releasing scaffolds were able to direct neurites along the aligned fibers. However, neurite outgrowth was stunted by fibers that contained 20% 6AN. These results show that 6AN release from aligned, electro spun fibers can decrease astrocyte activity while still directing axonal outgrowth. © 2011 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Department(s)

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering

Comments

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Grant R15HD061096

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

1741-2552; 1741-2560

Document Type

Article - Conference proceedings

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2025 IOP Publishing, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Aug 2011

PubMed ID

21730749

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