Studies on nerve cell affinity of chitosan-derived materials

Reparation of the central nervous system (CNS) is important because when it is impaired its recovery is difficult and concomitant malfunction of other parts of body occurs. In our previous studies, chitosan was found to be a good material supporting nerve repair. The purpose of this article was to s tudy the ability of chitosan and some chitosan-derived materials to facilit ate the growth of nerve cells. Those materials were chitosan, glutaraldehyd e-crosslinked chitosan, glutaraldehyde-crosslinked chitosan-gelatin conjuga te, a chitosan-gelatin mixture, chitosan coated with polylysine (CAP), and a chitosan-polylysine mixture (CPL). Gelatin and polylysine were used as co ntrols. After nerve cells (gliosarcoma cells and normal cerebral cells) wer e grown on those materials, their attachment, spread, and growth were obser ved. The adsorption of some extracellular matrix molecules such as laminin and fibronectin on the materials and the role the molecules play in nerve c ell attachment and spreading were also studied by enzyme-linked immunosorbe nt assay and MTT method. We found that both CAP and CPL have excellent nerv e cell affinity, defined as the ability to promote nerve cell to grow and f unction normally. Those two materials may be promising for the repair of th e nervous system. Materials precoated with laminin, fibronectin, and serum were analyzed for their nerve cell affinity. Results suggest that after bei ng precoated with laminin and fibronectin solution or serum, all material h ave better nerve cell affinity. (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.