Effect of spatial arrangement of substrate topography on neuronal differentiation of stem cells

Abstract

Tissue engineered substrates can be modified to provide suitable mechanical cues for the manipulation of stem cell responses. Recent studies have shown that topography plays a significant role in stem cell fate determination. We are interested in studying the neuronal differentiaiton of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and murine neural progenitor cells (mNPCs) in response to substrate topography. A Multi ARChitectural (MARC) chip containing fields of various geometries and size was developed to investigate the influence of topography spatial arrangement on differentiation. The hESCs and mNPCs were differentiated on the MARC chip with minimal neuronal supplements for 7 and 14 days, respect..