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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2019 Aug 28.
Published in final edited form as: Chem Soc Rev. 2018 Aug 28;47(17):6486–6504. doi: 10.1039/c8cs00187a

Figure 11. Silk nanofibers for central nerves regeneration.

Figure 11

The alignment of electrospun silk fibers depended on the speed of the rotating wheel collector: (a) fibers spun at static condition 0 m/s showing no alignment, and (b) fibers spun at 10 m/s showing optimal alignment. Scale bars: 5 μm. Retinal ganglion cells (RGC) culture on silk nanofibers: (c) phalloidin labelling of the actin filaments in RGC shows a neurite exhibiting a sharp change in direction of growth (arrow), while (d) merged image composed of the tetramethylrhodamine (TRITC) phalloidin (red), 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) nuclear staining (blue) and autofluorescence (green) of the silk network demonstrates that the growth cone (the arrowheads in c and d) elongates in contact with silk fibers and that the sharp changes of direction correspond to silk crossroads (arrows in c and d). (e) SEM of RGC reveals that neurons grow in close contact with the silk. Adapted with permission from ref 40. Copyright 2011 WILEY-VCH.