Introduction: Microspheres fabricated from natural materials serve as a promising biodegradable and\r\nbiocompatible carrier in a small volume for efficient cell delivery to the lesion of the injured neural tissue to\r\ngenerate biological functions. As the major component of extracellular matrix and due to its natural abundance\r\nwithin the body, collagen may be fabricated into microspheres and improve the ability of pre-seeded cells on the\r\nmicrospheres to encounter the hostile micro-environment in the lesion.\r\nMethods: In this study, collagen microspheres were fabricated using the water-in-oil emulsion technique and crosslinked\r\nwith 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropryl) carbodiimide. Oligodendrocyte progenitor cells isolated from\r\npostnatal day P1 to 2 rats were cultured and differentiated on the microspheres. The microspheres carrying the\r\noligodendrocyte progenitor cells were co-cultured with dorsal root ganglions from 15-day-old rat embryos. The\r\nmyelination formation was studied for the co-culture of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells and dorsal root ganglions.\r\nResults: We showed that the viability of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells, B104 cells and PC12 cells grown on\r\nmicrospheres was not significantly different with those in cell culture plates. Oligodendrocyte progenitor cells\r\ndifferentiated into oligodendrocytes on collagen microspheres. The oligodendrocytes grown on microspheres\r\nextended processes that wrapped the axons of dorsal root ganglion neurons and the formation of myelin sheath\r\nwas observed in the co-culture.\r\nConclusions: This study demonstrates the feasibility of collagen microspheres in further applications for the\r\ndelivery of neural progenitor cells for neural regeneration
Loading....