Fig. 7.

L1-Fc supports neuronal differentiation and neuritogenesis of neural progenitor cells within aligned scaffolds. a NPCs were cultured on aligned, fibrous scaffolds pretreated with L1-Fc presented from PDL or PA/PDL. After 7 days of differentiation, the NPCs were immunostained for the nestin (green) to identify neural progenitor cells, βIII-tubulin (red) to identify neurons, and Hoechst 33258 (blue) to label the nuclei. NPCs cultured on scaffolds treated with L1-Fc, with or without PA, extended neurites along the scaffold fibers. 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+). Both L1-Fc substrates promoted increased neuronal differentiation over controls and had a greater neuronal to neural progenitor cell population. L1-Fc/PA/PDL scaffolds resulted in more βIII-tubulin+ cells compared to L1-Fc/PDL coated scaffolds. c Quantification of the average total neurite length. NPCs cultured on L1-Fc/PA/PDL treated scaffolds extended longer neurites compared to those cultured on L1-Fc/PDL. Scale bar 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, # denotes p < 0.05 compared to the L1-Fc/PDL condition)