10.1007/s40204-019-00121-3

A novel polycaprolactone/carbon nanofiber composite as a conductive neural guidance channel: an in vitro and in vivo study

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  • Saeed Farzamfar1,
  • Majid Salehi2,
  • Seyed Mohammad Tavangar3,
  • Javad Verdi1,
  • Korosh Mansouri4,
  • Arman Ai5,
  • Ziba Veisi Malekshahi1,
  • Jafar Ai*1,
  1. Department of Tissue Engineering and Applied Cell Sciences, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR
  2. Department of Tissue Engineering, School of Medicine, Shahroud University of Medical Sciences, Shahroud, IR Tissue Engineering and Stem Cells Research Center, Shahroud University of Medical Sciences, Shahroud, IR
  3. Department of Pathology, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR
  4. Neuromusculoskletal Research Centre Firozgar Hospital, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR
  5. School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, 141556447, IR
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Published in Issue 2019-12-12

How to Cite

Farzamfar, S., Salehi, M., Tavangar, S. M., Verdi, J., Mansouri, K., Ai, A., Malekshahi, Z. V., & Ai, J. (2019). A novel polycaprolactone/carbon nanofiber composite as a conductive neural guidance channel: an in vitro and in vivo study. Progress in Biomaterials, 8(4 (December 2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40204-019-00121-3
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Abstract

Abstract The current study aimed to investigate the potential of carbon nanofibers to promote peripheral nerve regeneration. The carbon nanofiber-imbedded scaffolds were produced from polycaprolactone and carbon nanofibers using thermally induced phase separation method. Electrospinning technique was utilized to fabricate polycaprolactone/collagen nanofibrous sheets. The incorporation of carbon nanofibers into polycaprolactone’s matrix significantly reduced its electrical resistance from 4.3 × 10 9  ± 0.34 × 10 9  Ω to 8.7 × 10 4  ± 1.2 × 10 4  Ω. Further in vitro studies showed that polycaprolactone/carbon nanofiber scaffolds had the porosity of 82.9 ± 3.7% and degradation rate of 1.84 ± 0.37% after 30 days and 3.58 ± 0.39% after 60 days. The fabricated scaffolds were favorable for PC-12 cells attachment and proliferation. Neural guidance channels were produced from the polycaprolactone/carbon nanofiber composites using water jet cutter machine then incorporated with PCL/collagen nanofibrous sheets. The composites were implanted into severed rat sciatic nerve. After 12 weeks, the results of histopathological examinations and functional analysis proved that conductive conduit out-performed the non-conductive type and induced no toxicity or immunogenic reactions, suggesting its potential applicability to treat peripheral nerve damage in the clinic.

Keywords

  • Carbon nanofiber,
  • Polycaprolactone,
  • Electrical conductivity,
  • Sciatic nerve regeneration
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