Promoting optic nerve regeneration with a novel biocompatible fibrous scaffold

Abstract

Purpose : Glaucoma, a neurodegenerative disease, leads to progressive nerve damage and eventually loss of vision. Once the degeneration is occurred, it is permanent and irreversible. The purpose of this study is to develop a biocompatible scaffold for promoting retinal ganglion cells (RGC) survival and optic nerve regeneration after injury.

Methods : Polycaprolactone (PCL) and poly-gamma-benzyl-L-glutamate (PBG) fibrous scaffolds were prepared by 3D electrospinning with different fiber arrangements. To investigate the biocompatibility of those scaffolds, retinal ganglion cell progenitors (RGCP) were cultured on either aligned fibers or non-aligned fibers of PBG or PCL scaffolds for 1, 5, 10 days respectively. Cell survival, morphology, as well as neurite outgrowth rate and neurite length were observed by immunocytochemistry staining characterization.

Results : The biomimetic electrospun scaffolds for PCL and PBG featuring uniform fibrous structures and three dimensional porous networks. PBG scaffold with aligned fibers were successfully fabricated, supporting cell survival and robust growth of long neurite along the direction of the fibers.

Conclusions : The aligned PBG scaffold showed a great potential to assist RGCP differentiation and growth. Such scaffold may not only be beneficial for optic nerve regeneration, but also have a wide range of applications for tissue engineering on future regenerative medicine.

This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.