Three Dimensional brain in vitro models via electrofluidodynamics - First Year Report

In biological and medical applications, the capability of controlling physical and chemical interactions among the components of natural tissues at the multiscale level - from proteins to cells - is mandatory to offer a more efficient exploration, manipulation and application of living systems and biological phenomena. For this purpose, nano-structured biomaterials and nanocomposites are gaining increasing interest, being able to mimic the physical features of natural extracellular matrix (ECM) at the micro-, submicro- and nano- scale level. By the recent advances in nanotechnologies, it is currently possible to fabricate instructive platforms with peculiar chemical and morphological characteristics that can be finely customized to variously affect cell functions and fate, thus providing to design in vivo-like 3D in vitro models. In this view, the main goal of 3DNEUROGLIA was to develop bioinspired platforms able to support the growth of astrocytes and neurons in a 3D architecture in order to define a novel 3D model for long-term in vitro neurophysiological investigations. According to the phase 1 of the project (1-12 months), electrofluidodynamic techniques (EFDTs) (i.e., electrospinning) have been optimized to fabricate different nanofibrous platforms made of synthetic polymers (i.e., Polycaprolactone) alone or in combination with natural proteins (i.e., Gelatin), and preliminary tested in vitro to verify their interactions with astrocytes (Phase 2 - from 7 to 12 months).