Journal article
Electrical stimulation using conductive polymer polypyrrole promotes differentiation of human neural stem cells: A biocompatible platform for translational neural tissue engineering
E Stewart, NR Kobayashi, MJ Higgins, AF Quigley, S Jamali, SE Moulton, RMI Kapsa, GG Wallace, JM Crook
Tissue Engineering Part C Methods | Published : 2015
Abstract
Conductive polymers (CPs) are organic materials that hold great promise for biomedicine. Potential applications include in vitro or implantable electrodes for excitable cell recording and stimulation and conductive scaffolds for cell support and tissue engineering. In this study, we demonstrate the utility of electroactive CP polypyrrole (PPy) containing the anionic dopant dodecylbenzenesulfonate (DBS) to differentiate novel clinically relevant human neural stem cells (hNSCs). Electrical stimulation of PPy(DBS) induced hNSCs to predominantly β-III Tubulin (Tuj1) expressing neurons, with lower induction of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) expressing glial cells. In addition, stimulated ..
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Funding Acknowledgements
The authors wish to acknowledge the use of facilities at the University of Wollongong Electron Microscopy Centre, ongoing financial support of the Australian Research Council (ARC) and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES), support and assistance by the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF)-Materials Node, and Mr Hongrui Zhang for assisting with AFM. Professor Gordon Wallace acknowledges the support of the ARC through an ARC Laureate Fellowship-the primary funding source for this work. The authors would like to dedicate this article to Dr. Nao Kobayashi, a remarkable colleague and cherished friend. Nao's passion and dedication to her scholarship was unparalleled and her friendship and caring spirit will be missed.