The possible influence of varying diameter of aligned electrospun fibers on Schwann cells maturation in culture

Abstract

The development of Schwann cells, the principal glial cell in the peripheral nervous system, occurs through a series of transitional embryonic and postnatal phases, which are tightly regulated by a number of axonal signals. During the axon ensheathment and myelin growth, the diameter of the axon play an important role in the maturation of Schwann cells. Because of electrospun fibers similar to protein fibers within the native extracellular matrix, the scaffolds are being developed as neural tissue engineering scaffolds. Until now, the correlation between varying diameter of aligned electrospun fibers and Schwann cells maturation has not been investigated. We hypothesize that the different diameter of aligned electrospun fibers may influence the maturation of Schwann cells and may help improve the outcome of cell-based approaches to cure demyelinated lesions or peripheral nerve regeneration.