A functionalized self-assembling peptide containing E7 and YIGSR sequences enhances neuronal differentiation of spermatogonial stem cells on aligned PCL fibers for spinal cord injury repair
Zhiyuan Wang, Shuaijun Jia, Hailiang Xu, Xiaohui Wang, Botao Lu, Weidong Wu, Dageng Huang, Lingbo Kong, Xin Kang, Fang Tian, Lei Zhu, Dingjun Hao
Abstract
Background: Spinal cord injury (SCI) induces neuronal death and disrupts the nerve fiber bundles, which leads to partial or complete sensorimotor function loss of the limbs. Transplantation of exogenous neurons derived from stem cells to the lesion site becomes a new neurorestorative strategy for SCI treatment. Spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) can attain pluripotency features by converting to embryonic stem-like cells in vitro. However, differentiating SSCs into lineage-specific neurons is quite difficult and low efficiency. Methods: Immunofluorescence, immunohistochemistry, Western blotting, whole-cell patch clamp, and behavioral tests were performed to verify that self-assembled hydrogels could improve the directional differentiation efficiency of SSCs and the feasibility of SSC-derived neurons in the treatment of spinal cord injury.