Ordered inverse-opal scaffold based on bionic transpiration to create a biomimetic spine

Abstract

The availability of functional spinal cord scaffolds for nerve tissue engineering (NTE) strategies is an urgent clinical demand for spinal transplantation. However, effective transplanted spinal cord scaffolds are restricted by poor mechanical integrity, topological cues, complex processing, or other properties. Hence, this work aims to fabricate a new three-dimensional (3D) scaffold with electrically micropatterned materials for structural spinal mimicry. Inspired by plant transpiration, the scaffold templates are formed by self-assembled colloidal crystals in a glass capillary after the solvent evaporates gradually. Replicated from bionic transpiration photonic crystal templates, the specific 3D conductive inter-surface ordered microstructures are fabricated through carbonization and corrosion. Nerve cell reconstruction on columnar scaffolds indicated that these conductive porous materials were of excellent biocompatibility. Meanwhile, due to the homogeneously interconnected architecture characteristics, the inverse opal structures facilitated the connection and information transmission between nerve cells. Statistics on the number and length of neural neurites indicated that the microstructures with uniform pores guided nerve cell neurite growth and development. These biomimetic spine properties make them potential alternative scaffolds for nerve tissue engineering.