Dendrigraft polylysine coated-poly(glycolic acid) fibrous scaffolds for hippocampal neurons.

Poly(glycolic acid) (PGA) fibers are a good candidate material for nerve cell scaffolds, which is applicable to the treatment of peripheral nerve injuries. Polylysine is widely used as a coating material for cell substrates to promote nerve cell adhesion. In this study, linear and dendrigraft polylysines were used to coat PGA fibers. The association of large dendrigraft polylysines with PGA fibers was lower and unstable, compared with linear polylysine. However, more hippocampal neurons adhered to PGA fibers coated with large dendrigraft polylysine than linear polylysine. Enhanced cell adhesion was observed, even when the dendrigraft polylysine was coated on the PGA fibers at a low concentration (0.05 µg/mL) or when it was coated in water instead of alkaline buffer. Differences in cell adhesion properties were seen between the dendrigraft polylysine coating and a laminin coating. Thus, large dendrigraft polylysines are a useful coating material for nerve cell scaffolds. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 104A: 2744-2750, 2016.

Differential effects of laminin isoforms on axon and dendrite development in hippocampal neurons.

Laminins play an important role in neuronal development. However, the effects of each laminin isoform on neurite morphology remain unclear. Here, we examined the effects of particular laminin (LN) isoforms on hippocampal neuron morphology. We found that LN-511 remarkably promoted elongation of both axons and dendrites, but reduced the number of dendrites. LN-511 E8 fragment, which includes the integrin-binding region, promoted axon and dendrite outgrowth and increased the dendrite number, although its effect on axon and dendrite elongation was smaller than that of full-length LN-511. These results suggest that LN-511 regulates axon and dendrite development by integrin-dependent and -independent mechanisms.