@article {15452, title = {Novel tissue engineering 3D scaffolds for spinal cord injury based on starch/polycaprolactone blends: Development and preliminary assessment of their biological performance}, journal = {Tissue Engineering}, volume = {13}, year = {2008}, month = {2008-11-05 00:00:00}, pages = {1736-1737}, abstract = {

With the advent of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine concepts, innovative methodologies could be envisaged for Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) regeneration, namely through the combination of 3D scaffold with an appropriate source of cells and growth factors. In this sense the objective of the present work was to determine the effects of a blend of starch with polycaprolactone (SPCL) aimed to be used in SCI repair, on the viability and pro- liferation of central nervous systems derived cells, such as neurons and glial cells, and further develop a dual phase 3D scaffold aimed at SCI regeneration based on these materials. For this purpose hippocampal neurons and glial cells were platted on SPCL fila- ments, previously deposited on polystyrene coverslips at intervals of 1{\textendash}2 mm. Light and fluorescence microscopy observations re- vealed that both cell populations were not affected by the presence of the SPCL based biomaterial. On the contrary total protein

quantification and MTS test indicated that both cell viability and proliferation rates were similar to those obtained for the control. Furthermore it was also observed that both neuronal and glial cell populations could adhere to the SPCL filaments surface, suggest- ing that the surface properties of latter might be amenable for CNS cells adhesion and proliferation. Moreover the SPCL based bio- materials did not seem to elicit an active response by the inflam- matory mediators of the CNS, microglial cells, as the latter were not adhered to the biomaterial and did not disclose drastic changes on their morphology. 3D scaffolds were then produced by using a combination of 3D plotting, a rapid prototyping technology, and thermal conformation. Characterization techniques reveal that the latter possess mechanical properties adequate for the above re- ferred goals, disclosing at the same time a non-cytotoxic behav- iour. Consequently it is believed that SPCL based blends might be suitable for future studies on SCI regenerative medicine.

Acknowledgments: We would like to acknowledge the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (Post-Doctoral Fellow- ships to A.J. Salgado and R.A. Sousa, PhD scholarship to J.T. Oliveira)

}, keywords = {spinal cord, starch/polycaprolactone blends}, author = {Salgado, A. J. and Sousa, R. A. and Oliveira, J. T. and Silva, N. A. and Neves, N. M. and Reis, R. L. and Sousa, N.} }