고려대학교

초록/요약

The nervous systems including central and peripheral nervous system have an important role in transmittingsignals from brain to organs and tissues. Due to such critical function of nervous system, considerable effort hasbeen tried to establish in vitro nervous model. In this paper, the neuro-spheres networked by the nerve-like structurewere created using concave well arrays connected by the hemicylindrical channels. The concave microwells and thehemicylindrical channels were fabricated using the surface tension of viscose liquid PDMS prepolymer for the creationof neuro-spheres-networking (NSN). To investigate the topological effect of the concave-well-hemicylindrical-channel-networking (CWHCN), comparative experiments were conducted on a conventional cylindrical-wellsrectangular-channel-networking (CWRCN). Neuro-progenitor cells from the rat were seeded on the concave wellarrays connected by the hemicylindrical channels and cultured for 10 days. Small neuro-spehroids consisting of neuronsand glia cells were autonomously formed in the concave microwell arrays. These neuro-spheres were networkedby the nerve-like structures formed along the CWHCN. In order to confirm the interconnection of theneurites in the NSN, a calcium imaging experiment was performed to measure the calcium flux along the nerve-likenetworking. To demonstrate further use of the networked neuro-networking for brain regeneration, we transferredthe NSN onto hydrogel maintaining approximately 90% viability, and this model is expected to be used for theregeneration of a damaged brain.