posted on 2020-07-04, 12:03authored byJingwen Song, Xiaofang Jia, Kosuke Minami, Jonathan P. Hill, Jun Nakanishi, Lok Kumar Shrestha, Katsuhiko Ariga
Development of human mesenchymal
stem cell (hMSC)-based therapies
is hindered by the limited availability of adult stem cells. Long-term
retention of multipotency and stem-like phenotypes remains a key challenge
in the large-scale in vitro expansion process. In
this paper, we report the primary example of the use of highly aligned
fullerene nanowhisker nanopatterned scaffolds to regulate precisely
adhesion and function of hMSCs. Continuously tunable alignment of
fullerene nanowhiskers was attained using a simple Langmuir–Blodgett
approach. We have found that long-term multipotency retention and
regenerative capacity are enhanced in cells cultured on the highly
aligned fullerene nanowhisker nanopatterned surfaces mediated by the
appropriate cell contractility and nucleus localization of Yes-associated
protein. This study highlights the importance of the aligned fullerene
nanowhisker nanopatterned surface as an attractive platform for stem
cell expansion in vitro and for tissue engineering.