Electrospinning & Nanofibers

in Nerve Regeneration
Artificial Organs II
Diptyajit Das
Matrikel Nr. 3058259
Date: 20.04.2016

Overview

Introduction

Structure of Nerve fiber

Classification of nerve injury

Nanotechnology & Nanofibres

Nanofibre Production: Electrospinning

Current research and development

Discussion

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Introduction
Nerve: Bundle of enclosed fibres in the body that transmits
impulses of sensation to the brain or spinal cord, and impulses
from these to the muscles and organs.
Nerves are collection of neurons, which are the individual
nerve cells.
Where are the nerves located?
Our nerves are located throughout our bodies from our skin,
through and round our organs and towards their centre, the brain.

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Background
Which types of nerves exist?
The main 2 types of nerves are -sensory nerves and motor nerves.
Sensory nerves also known as afferent nerves, carry impulses
from sensory receptors towards the brain.
Motor nerves also known as efferent nerves, carry impulses
away from the brain to muscles and glands.

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Structure of Nerve Fibre

Nerve Fibres structure (PNS)

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Neuron Structure
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Overview of Nervous System

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Classification of Nerve Injury

Based on types of pain:
Acute: Peripheral nerve injury, spinal cord injury, traumatic
brain injury.
Chronic: Neurodegeneration (Alzheimers disease,
Parkinsons disease).
Based on types of damage in neurons:
Neurapraxia : Myelin sheath is compressed only
(Demyelination).

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Nerve Injury
Axonotmesis: (Demyelination+ Axon loss)

Neurotmesis: (Demyelination+ Axon loss + one of the following:

a)damage of endoneurium- fair growth
b) damage of perineurium- poor growth
c)damage of epineurium - no growth)

Note: Axon can grow back in presence of cell body.

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Comparison between CNS & PNS nerve fibers

CNS nerve fibres

PNS nerve fibres

Clear up process is

Clean up process is

very slow
Environment is not
optimal
Oligodendrocytes
inhibit regeneration

quick- macrophage .
Schwaan cells assist in
regeneration.

Remarks: Nerve fibers

do not regenerate

Remarks: Nerve fibers

can regenerate

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Nanotechnology & Nanofibers

Nanotechnology is science, engineering, and technology
conducted at the nanoscale, which is about 1 to 100 nanometers.
Nanofibers are defined as fibers with
diameters less than 100 nanometers.

Physicist Richard Feynman is known as the father of

nanotechnology.
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Ideal properties of Nanofibers for

nerve regeneration

Large specific surface area

High porosity
Small pore size
Diameter range (50 1000) nm
Biodegradable and biocompatible
Permissive for cell growth

Sometimes neurotrophic factors, such as neural growth factor

(i.e.BDNF) will be included in nanofibers.

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Materials for Nanofibers

Mainly polymer solutions or melts
More than 30 polymers, including polyethylene oxide,
polyaniline have been electrospun.
Natural polymers: (proteins, collagens)
PVA, PS, PAN, but also peptide amphiphiles or cellulose.
Lower immunogenicity, inherent biodegradability but
expensive and harder to produce in industry level.
Synthetic polymers: Polyglycolide (PGA), poly(L-lactide)
(PLA), and their copolymer poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide)
(PLGA) etc.
relatively good mechanical strength , biocompatible,
biodegradable and easier to produce.
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Nanofiber Production
What is electrospinning?
Electrospinning is the process using electrostatic forces to form a
fine filament of the polymer solution.
Why do we need electrospinning?
It fabricates porous and highly spatially interconnected microand nano-scale polymer fibers, both natural and synthetic.
It produces highly aligned electrospun fibers which can
provide guidance cues for glial cells (e.g., Schwann cells)
growth.
Much easier (one single step) to incorporate those essential
factors.

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Voltage applied to the needle: 12 kV

Syringe pump feeding rate: 1ml/h
Tip diameter of the needle: 0.4mm
Distance between collector and needle
tip: 10cm

Modified Electrospinning Setup for alligned nanofibres

Optical micrograph of PLGA (10:90) polymer, electrospun

at different concentrations: (a) 5 wt%1000; (b)7 wt% 1000

c) SEM image of electrospun poly(L-lactide)

(PLA) fibers using a rotating disk 8 wt%

Current research and development

NNGC (nanofibre nerve guide conduits) implantation:
Implantation site: Wistar rats (weighing 200250 g) right sciatic
nerve (a 3 cm long skin incision on the thigh), no. of rats: 11
Length of the implant NNGC: 14 mm
Nanofibres material: PLGA
Perineural suturing to NNGC: 10-0 times
The surgery was performed under an Olympus operating
microscope.
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Observation after one month

Eight out of eleven rats had a regenerated cable inside the
conduits.
Positive reflex responses in 45% of the rats with a PLGA
nanofibre NGC.
Numerous myelinated nerve fibres had
regenerated. Distributions of both
myelinated and unmyelinated axons
were observed.
The regenerated axons varied in
axonal diameter.
a) Macrograph of the regenerated
cable one month after implantation
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Discussion
Electrospinning has been widely used to produce nano-fibrous
scaffolds which mimic the structure of the natural extracellular
matrix. The alignment of the fibres is important for achieving
directed cell growth.
The quality of nerve regeneration in the nano-fibre conduits
can be improved by introducing nerve growth factors or
Schwann cells into the conduit lumen.

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References
Burger, Christian, Benjamin S. Hsiao, and Benjamin Chu. "Nanofibrous
Material and Their Applications." Review. 25 Apr. 2006. Web. 14 Feb.
2010.
Hunley, Matthew T., and Timothy E. Long. "Electrospinning Functional
Nanoscale Fibers: a Perspective for the Future." Polymer International 57
(2008): 385-89. Web. 7 Mar. 2010.
Xie, Jingwei, Matthew R. MacEwan, Andrea G. Schwartz, and Younan
Xia. "Electrospin Nanofibers for Neural Tissue Engineering." Nanoscale 2
(2010): 35-44. Print.
http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0957-4484/15/11/014/pdf
www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/3/4/1684/pdf
http://www.brain.hku.hk/f/page/1157/Wu-nanomedicine.pdf
http://bmcbiotechnol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1472-6750-8-39
http://www.differencebetween.net/science/difference-between-nerve-and-n
euron/
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Thank you for the Attention!

Question please?