Current Issue May 2012, Vol. 8, No. 4

In this article we demonstrate the effect of mechanical compression on the behavior of cultured neural stem cells using a microelectromechanical system platform. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based stretchable substrates were used on a neurosphere (NS) assay to investigate the role of mechanical forces on the formation of radial glial processes and neuronal migration.

Neural chips, which are capable of simultaneous multisite neural recording and stimulation, have been used to detect and modulate neural activity for almost thirty years. As neural interfaces, neural chips provide dynamic functional information for neural decoding and neural control.

An effective and simple method was developed to prepare spherical and uniform-sized recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH)–Zn2+-dextran nanoparticles (NPs) for a variety of delivery applications of the delicate protein. The results showed that the prepared rhGH-Zn2+-dextran particles were spherical, glassy, and uniform in size. rhGH recovered from the NPs maintained its structural integrity and its bioactivity well, as suggested by the Nb2-11 cell proliferation assay.

The majority of studies on the effect of nanomaterials on biological function involves either isolated in vitro cell systems or are concerned with in vivo effects after inhalational or dermal exposure. The current work reports on an intriguing observation of the vascular effects seen in an ex vivo perfused tissue preparation, the isolated perfused porcine skin flap (IPPSF), in studies conducted to assess nanomaterial biodistribution.

Cell adhesion onto bioengineered surfaces is affected by a number of variables, including the former substrate derivatization process. In this investigation, we studied the correlation between cell adhesion and cell–adhesive ligand surface concentration and organization due to substrate modification.