Background and Objective: Differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells into neurons has great potential in the therapy of damaged nerve tissue. Neural tissue engineering offers tremendous promise to combat the effects of disease, aging and injury in the nervous system. The aim of this study was to investigate the differentiation of adipose derived stem cells to neuron like cells on aligned nanofibrous scaffold.

Materials and Methods: In this study, the surface of aligned polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofibrous scaffolds were modified with O₂ plasma treatment to enhance their hydrophilicity in order to differentiate hADSCs into neuron like cells. The chemical and mechanical characteristics of electrospined aligned PCL fibers were determined using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and the calculation of contact angles. The differentiation of adipose derived stem cells was performed using neuronal inducing factors including bFGF, forskolin and NGF with 1% FBS for 8 days.

Results: Real-time PCR analysis indicated the upregulation of Map2, NSE, and NFM genes and down-regulation of Nestin. Also the expression of neuronal proteins such as MAP2 and βTubullin were confirmed by immunocytochemistry. It was found that the direction of cell elongation and neurite outgrowth on the aligned nanofibrous scaffolds is parallel to the direction of fibers.

Conclusion: The results of the present study proposed that p-PCL is a cost-effective material for differentiation of hADSCs into neuron like cells and could apply in nerve tissue repair.