Publications [#175541] of Kam W. Leong

Papers Published

1. Chew, S. Y. and Mi, R. and Hoke, A. and Leong, K. W., The effect of the alignment of electrospun fibrous scaffolds on Schwann cell maturation, Biomaterials, vol. 29 no. 6 (2008), pp. 653-61
   (last updated on 2010/06/11)

   Abstract:
   Peripheral nerve regeneration can be enhanced by the stimulation of formation of bands of Bungner prior to implantation. Aligned electrospun poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL) fibers were fabricated to test their potential to provide contact guidance to human Schwann cells. After 7 days of culture, cell cytoskeleton and nuclei were observed to align and elongate along the fiber axes, emulating the structure of bands of Bungner. Microarray analysis revealed a general down-regulation in expression of neurotrophin and neurotrophic receptors in aligned cells as compared to cells seeded on two-dimensional PCL film. Real-time-PCR analyses confirmed the up-regulation of early myelination marker, myelin-associated glycoprotein (MAG), and the down-regulation of NCAM-1, a marker of immature Schwann cells. Similar gene expression changes were also observed on cells cultured on randomly oriented PCL electrospun fibers. However, up-regulation of the myelin-specific gene, P0, was observed only on aligned electrospun fibers, suggesting the propensity of aligned fibers in promoting Schwann cell maturation.

   Keywords:
   Base Sequence DNA Primers Humans Polymerase Chain Reaction Schwann Cells/*cytology Tissue Engineering