Time-dependent retention of nanotopographical cues in differentiated neural stem cells

Abstract

Exposure time to mechanical cues is important to properly modulating stem cell fate. The phenomenon in which the cells retain information from past stimuli, the so-called "time-retention effect", has become one of the major factors to modulate stem cell differentiation with different mechanical cues. Using a stress-responsive and tunable nanowrinkle topography, we investigated the effects of time-dependent retention of a nanotopographical cue on differentiating the neural stem cells (NSCs). After removing nanotopography used to induce hNSCs neuronal differentiation, we observed that differentiated NSCs exposed to the nanotopography for longer times retained their neural features compared to NSCs exposed shorter. We concluded that the NSCs could retain the nanotopographical stimuli depending on the dosing time during differentiation, suggesting the impact of the time-retention effect in controlling stem cell fate.