Engineering the physicochemical properties of neural cells microenvironment to regulate neuronal growth and differentiation

Abstract

Neural cells such as neurons and neural stem cells have recently emerged as critical candidates for cell therapy for diverse serious neurodegenerative diseases. However, these still have some limitations including unstable and insufficient cell growth and low differentiation efficiency. Therefore, regulating neural cell behaviors is important issue. In this thesis, we engineer physicochemical surface properties for cellular contact by controlling the functionalities of polymeric surface, dimension of nano-patterns, and mechanical properties and ligands of hydrogel, to regulate the neuronal cell growth and fate commitment of neural stem cells. In addition, we reveal the biomolecular mechanism how the cells process the diverse cues from these materials to their cellular behaviors.