Abstract
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.
A laminin-coated and yarn-encapsulated PLGA nerve guidance conduit for Schwann cells' proliferation and migration.