Introduction: Nerve tissue engineering (NTE) is an effective approach for repairing damaged nerve tissue. In this regard, nanoparticle-incorporated electrospun scaffolds have aroused a great deal of interest in NTE applications
Methods: In this study, layered double hydroxide (LDH)-incorporated polycaprolactone (PCL)/gelatin (Gel) nanofibrous scaffolds were fabricated by electrospinning technique. The biological properties of scaffolds were examined by MTT assay, SEM analysis and. qRT-PCR.
Results: The results revealed that the inclusion of LDH nanoparticles into the PCL/Gel scaffold has improved biocompatibility in comparison with the pure PCL/Gel mat. The LDH-enriched electrospun PCL/Gel scaffolds exhibited a considerable impact on cell attachment and proliferation. The gene expression results showed that the neuron-specific (γγ) enolase (NSE) gene expression was significantly decreased in the scaffolds containing 1 and 10 wt% LDH compared to the scaffold without LDH, whereas in the scaffold with 0.1wt% LDH, a slight increase in expression was observed.
Conclusion: It can be deduced that electrospun PCL/Gel scaffolds containing LDH with optimum concentration can be a promising candidate for nerve tissue engineering applications.