Peripheral nerve regeneration can be enhanced by chemical and mechanical cues for neurite growth. Aligned and randomly oriented electrospun nanofibers of poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) or a blend of PCL and elastin were fabricated to test their potential to provide contact guidance to embryonic chick dorsal root ganglia for peripheral nerve regeneration. Scanning electron microscopy was used to analyze the fiber diameter. Fiber diameter was found to be significantly smaller when elastin was incorporated into the scaffold (934 ± 58 nm for PCL and 519 ± 36 nm for PCL:elastin). After 24 h in culture, there was preferential cell attachment and neurite extension along the fibers of the elastin-containing scaffolds (average neurite extension 173.4 ± 20.7 μm), indicating that the presence of elastin promotes neurite outgrowth on electrospun scaffolds.
Keywords: Dorsal root ganglia; Elastin; Electrospinning; Nanofibers; PCL; Peripheral nerve regeneration.