Neural Regeneration Research ›› 2014, Vol. 9 ›› Issue (20): 1810-1813.doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.143426

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Material and mechanical factors: new strategy in cellular neurogenesis

Hillary Stoll 1, Il Keun Kwon 2, Jung Yul Lim 2, 3   

  1. 1 Department of Biological Systems Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA
    2 The Graduate School of Dentistry, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea
    3 Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA
  • Received:2014-09-22 Online:2014-10-25 Published:2014-10-25
  • Contact: Jung Yul Lim, Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, W317.3 Nebraska Hall, Lincoln, NE 68588-0526, USA, jlim4@unl.edu.
  • Supported by:

    This study was supported by NE EPSCoR Trans-disciplinary Neuroscience Research Seed Grant, NSF CAREER Award 1351570, AHA Scientist Development Grant 12SDG12030109, Osteology Foundation Grant 12-006, Nebraska Research Initiative. 

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Abstract:

Since damaged neural circuits are not generally self-recovered, developing methods to stimulate neurogenesis is critically required. Most studies have examined the effects of soluble pharmacological factors on the cellular neurogenesis. On the other hand, it is now recognized that the other extracellular factors, including material and mechanical cues, also have a strong potential to induce cellular neurogenesis. This article will review recent data on the material (chemical patterning, micro/nano-topography, carbon nanotube, graphene) and mechanical (static cue from substrate stiffness, dynamic cue from stretch and flow shear) stimulations of cellular neurogenesis. These approaches may provide new neural regenerative medicine protocols. Scaffolding material templates capable of triggering cellular neurogenesis can be explored in the presence of neurogenesis-stimulatory mechanical environments, and also with conventional soluble factors, to enhance axonal growth and neural network formation in neural tissue engineering.

Key words: neural regenerative medicine, cellular neurogenesis, material cue, mechanical factor, soluble signal