Issue 63, 2019, Issue in Progress

Advancing fabrication and properties of three-dimensional graphene–alginate scaffolds for application in neural tissue engineering

Abstract

Neural tissue engineering provides enormous potential for restoring and improving the function of diseased/damaged tissues and promising opportunities in regenerative medicine, stem cell technology, and drug discovery. The conventional 2D cell cultures have many limitations to provide informative and realistic neural interactions and network formation. Hence, there is a need to develop three-dimensional (3D) bioscaffolds to facilitate culturing cells with matched microenvironment for cell growth and interconnected pores for penetration and migration of cells. Herein, we report the synthesis and characterization of 3D composite bioscaffolds based on graphene-biopolymer with porous structure and improved performance for tissue engineering. A simple, eco-friendly synthetic method is introduced and optimized for synthesis of this hybrid fibrous scaffold by combining Graphene Oxide (GO) and Sodium Alginate (Na-ALG) which are specifically selected to match the mechanical strength of the central nervous system (CNS) tissue and provide porous structure for connective tissue engineering. Properties of the developed scaffold in terms of the structure, porosity, thermal stability, mechanical properties, and electrical conductivity are presented. These properties were optimised through key synthesis conditions including GO concentrations, reduction process and crosslinking time. In contrast to other studies, the presented structure maintains its stability in aqueous media and uses a bio-friendly reducing agent which enable the structure to enhance neuron cell interactions and act as nerve conduits for neurological diseases.

Graphical abstract: Advancing fabrication and properties of three-dimensional graphene–alginate scaffolds for application in neural tissue engineering

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
17 Sep 2019
Accepted
27 Oct 2019
First published
12 Nov 2019
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2019,9, 36838-36848

Advancing fabrication and properties of three-dimensional graphene–alginate scaffolds for application in neural tissue engineering

N. Mansouri, S. F. Al-Sarawi, J. Mazumdar and D. Losic, RSC Adv., 2019, 9, 36838 DOI: 10.1039/C9RA07481C

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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