Assessment of morphology, activity, and infiltration of astrocytes on marine EPS-Imbedded electrospun PCL nanofiber

Tissue engineering using a biomaterial including bioactive compounds has been researched as a way to restore injured neural systems. Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) extracted from marine seaweeds have been known to produce positive effects on physiological activities in human tissues. In this study, an electrospun nanofiber containing brown seaweed EPS was proven to be a candidate biomaterial for neural tissue engineering. Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) as a specific marker protein increased in the astrocytes cultured on the polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofiber containing EPS (EPS-PCL nanofiber), compared with PCL nanofiber. The upregulation of GFAP indicates that the EPS-PCL nanofiber induced astrocyte activation, which supports physiological agents favorable to restore injured neural tissue. Astrocytes could infiltrate into the EPS-PCL nanofiber mat without toxicity, comparable to PCL nanofiber. These results imply that EPS-PCL nanofiber could be a useful biomaterial to regulate astrocyte activity at a molecular level and could be considered as a novel therapeutic material for neural tissue engineering.