Fig. 6.

L1-Fc supports neuronal differentiation and neuritogenesis of neural progenitor cells. a NPCs were cultured on PDL, PA/PDL, L1-Fc/PDL, L1-Fc/PA/PDL, and LN/PDL for 7 days in neuronal differentiation media and then immunostained for the nestin (green) to identify neural stem/progenitor cells, βIII-tubulin (red) to identify neurons, and Hoechst 33258 (blue) to label the nuclei. After 7 days, NPCs differentiated toward the neuronal lineage, to some degree, when cultured on all substrates, as in indicated the βIII-tubulin+ cells. b Quantification of the percent of NPCs (nestin+) and neuronal cells (βIII-tubulin+) of NPCs after 7 days of differentiation. Both L1-Fc substrates promoted increased neuronal differentiation over controls and had a greater neuronal to neural progenitor cell population. c Average neurite lengths were quantified for NPCs after 7 days in culture. L1-Fc/PDL and L1-Fc/PA/PDL coated thin films promote a significant increase in neurite length compared to the PDL and PA/PDL controls. LN/PDL served as a positive control. Scalebar 75 μm. NPCs neural progenitor cells, PDL poly-d-lysine, PA protein A, LN laminin (* denotes p < 0.05 compared to PDL and PA/PDL controls, § denotes p < 0.05 comparing nestin+ cells to βIII-tubulin+ cells within each condition)