TY - JOUR TI - Electrospun nanofibers for the investigation of neural cell systems DO - https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-d0ef-wv98 PY - 2019 AB - Polymer nanofibers and microfibers are an invaluable tool to biomedical research. Due to their versatility and customizability, fibers can be used to mimic various systems of the body such as the extracellular matrix and neuronal axons, and can be used to influence and study cell behavior. Electrospinning is an attractive method for generating these fibers in a high volume. Myoblasts were grown on random and aligned scaffolds of electrospun collagen nanofibers. Nanofiber anisotropy was shown to increase the fusion of myoblasts into multinucleated myotubes along the direction of the local fibers. Astrocytes cultured on electrospun Poly-L-Lactic acid nanofibers were found to have morphologies that were more similar to in-vivo astrocytes as compared to those cultured on glass. Larger nanofibers into the microfiber range were seen to induce a contact guidance effect, causing astrocytes to extend long processes along the fibers. Polymer microfibers with diameters similar to the diameter neuronal axons were used as a non-biological axon mimic which oligodendrocytes myelinate as if they were neurons. Fibers were functionalized by oxygen plasma activation and direct adsorption of Protein-A and CASPR2. Protein-A was used to bind and FC-Fusion version of CASPR2 to preserve the orientation of the protein along the fiber. Properly oriented protein increased myelination over control conditions. KW - Biomedical Engineering KW - Nanofibers LA - eng ER -