Conductive Hydroxyethyl Cellulose/Soy Protein Isolate/Polyaniline Scaffolds Promote PC12 Cells Neurite Elongation and BDNF Expression under Electrical Stimulation

Abstract

Electrical stimulation (ES) can promote peripheral nerve repair. Nevertheless, the basis of ES generally requires conductive tissue engineering scaffolds. In this work, a neural tissue engineering scaffold is prepared from a series of conductive composites. The conductive composites, hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC)/soy protein isolate (SPI)/polyaniline (PANI) films (HSPFs), were prepared by natural volatilization of HEC/SPI solution and then in-situ polymerization of aniline. Subsequently, the HSPFs films were confirmed by ATR-FTIR, water contact angle and SEM characterization. The conductivity of HSPFs reached 0.45 S/m superlatively and cell contact test showed that HSPFs had good cytocompatibility with PC12 cells. Most important of all, the neurite lengths and BDNF protein expression of PC12 cells on HSPFs can be promoted by ES. These results indicated that the ES may have potential application in nerve tissue engineering field through the conductive HSPFs films.