NRR：胶原凝胶三维支架促神经干细胞更好的生长和分化

神经干细胞移植治疗脊髓损伤被证明是一种具有广阔前景的治疗方法，但是神经干细胞移植过程中由于缺少微环境的支持，移植后细胞存活率低，影响移植效果。胶原蛋白是天然的细胞外基质，具有良好的细胞黏附性、低免疫原性、可降解性、被广泛用于组织工程研究中。安徽医科大学沈强教授在《中国神经再生研究（英文版）》杂志2013年2月第4期发表的一项关于“Growth and differentiation of neural stem cells in a three-dimensional collagen gel scaffold”的研究，利用Ⅰ型胶原蛋白形成的胶原凝胶三维支架作为载体培养神经干细胞，观察神经干细胞在胶原凝胶中生长时细胞特性的改变。结果证实，胶原凝胶三维支架可以促进神经干细胞的增殖、分化和突起的生长，效果优于悬浮培养。说明胶原凝胶是一种良好的生物支架材料，有利于维持神经干细胞的特性，并能提高神经干细胞向神经元分化的比例。

DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1673-5374.2013.04.003 
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Growth and differentiation of neural stem cells in a three-dimensional collagen gel scaffold

Fei Huang1, Qiang Shen2, Jitong Zhao2

Collagen protein is an ideal scaffold material for the transplantation of neural stem cells. In this study, rat neural stem cells were seeded into a three-dimensional collagen gel scaffold, with suspension cultured neural stem cells being used as a control group. Neural stem cells, which were cultured in medium containing epidermal growth factor and basic fibroblast growth factor, actively expanded and formed neurospheres in both culture groups. In serum-free medium conditions, the processes extended from neurospheres in the collagen gel group were much longer than those in the suspension culture group. Immunofluorescence staining showed that neurospheres cultured in collagen gels were stained positive for nestin and differentiated cells were stained positive for the neuronal marker βIII-tubulin, the astrocytic marker glial fibrillary acidic protein and the oligodendrocytic marker 2’,3’-cyclic nucleotide 3'-phosphodiesterase. Compared with neurospheres cultured in suspension, the differentiation potential of neural stem cells cultured in collagen gels increased, with the formation of neurons at an early stage. Our results show that the three-dimensional collagen gel culture system is superior to suspension culture in the proliferation, differentiation and process outgrowth of neural stem cells.