Quick search Find article
Quick search
Find article

Bifurcating microchannels as a scaffold to induce separation of regenerating neurites

P A Wieringa1, R W F Wiertz1, E de Weerd2 and W L C Rutten1

Show affiliations


Many neural interfacing strategies, such as the sieve electrode and the cultured probe, rely on neurite growth to establish neural contact. But this growth is subject to natural fasciculation, compromising the effectiveness of these interfacing strategies by reducing potential selectivity. This in vitro study shows that the fasciculation mechanism can be manipulated by providing an appropriate microchannel scaffold to guide and influence growth, thereby achieving a high degree of selectivity. The microchannels employed have a bifurcation from a primary channel into two secondary channels. This bifurcating microstructure was able to support and promote fasciculated growth over 70% of the time for microchannels widths of 2.5, 5, 10 and 20 µm. Fasciculation is shown to be a strong force during ingrowth, with the initiation of neurite separation related to random spatial exploration. Narrower microchannels initiate separated growth better. Once separated growth starts fasciculation results in an even distribution of neurite growth across the bifurcation. The reduction from 20 µm to 10 µm wide channels also resulted in a 3-fold decrease in ingrowing neurites performing 180° turns to exit the microchannel via the entrance. No neurite turning was observed for both the 5 and 2.5 µm wide channels.


PACS

87.85.Lf Tissue engineering

47.60.-i Flow phenomena in quasi-one-dimensional systems

87.17.Ee Growth and division

87.85.J- Biomaterials

Subjects

Fluid dynamics

Biological physics

Dates

Issue 1 (February 2010)

Received 15 July 2009, accepted for publication 25 November 2009

Published 6 January 2010



  1. Bifurcating microchannels as a scaffold to induce separation of regenerating neurites

    P A Wieringa et al 2010 J. Neural Eng. 7 016001

  2. Contrast-transfer improvement for electrode displacement elastography

    Shyam Bharat and Tomy Varghese 2006 Phys. Med. Biol. 51 6403

  3. Non-invasive ultrasound-based temperature imaging for monitoring radiofrequency heating—phantom results

    M J Daniels et al 2007 Phys. Med. Biol. 52 4827

  4. One-mode model and Airy-like formulae for one-dimensional metallic gratings

    Ph Lalanne et al 2000 J. Opt. A: Pure Appl. Opt. 2 48

  5. Ultra-high-reflectivity photonic-bandgap mirrors in a ridge SOI waveguide

    P Velha et al 2006 New J. Phys. 8 204

  6. Resonance zones and lobe volumes for exact volume-preserving maps

    H E Lomelí and J D Meiss 2009 Nonlinearity 22 1761

  7. Canonical Melnikov theory for diffeomorphisms

    Héctor E Lomelí et al 2008 Nonlinearity 21 485

  8. A Newton-Krylov solver for implicit solution of hydrodynamics in core collapse supernovae

    D R Reynolds et al 2008 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 125 012085

  9. Implicit solvers for large-scale nonlinear problems

    David E Keyes et al 2006 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 46 433

  10. Spitzer Sage Survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud. III. Star Formation and ~1000 New Candidate Young Stellar Objects

    B. A. Whitney et al. 2008 The Astronomical Journal 136 18

View by subject




Export








Please login to access our web services, or create an account if you don't yet have one.

You must have cookies enabled in your web browser to be able to login.

Username
Password

Forgotten your password? Get a new one here.