Morphological properties and proliferation analysis of olfactory ensheathing cells seeded onto three-dimensional collagen-heparan sulfate biological scaffolds

Na Liu; Zhouping Tang; Zhiyuan Yu; Minjie Xie; Yu Zhang; Erfang Yang; Shabei Xu

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1673-5374.2012.16.002

Morphological properties and proliferation analysis of olfactory ensheathing cells seeded onto three-dimensional collagen-heparan sulfate biological scaffolds

Neural Regen Res. 2012 Jun 5;7(16):1213-9. doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1673-5374.2012.16.002.

Authors

Na Liu¹, Zhouping Tang¹, Zhiyuan Yu¹, Minjie Xie¹, Yu Zhang¹, Erfang Yang¹, Shabei Xu¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Neurology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, Hubei Province, China.

PMID: 25709618
PMCID: PMC4336954
DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1673-5374.2012.16.002

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the differences in the morphological properties and proliferation of olfactory ensheathing cells in three-dimensional culture on collagen-heparan sulfate biological scaffolds and in two-dimensional culture on common flat culture plates. The proliferation rate of olfactory ensheathing cells in three-dimensional culture was higher than that in two-dimensional culture, as detected by an MTT assay. In addition, more than half of the olfactory ensheathing cells subcultured using the trypsinization method in three-dimensional culture displayed a spindly Schwann cell-like morphology with extremely long processes, while they showed a flat astrocyte-like morphology in two-dimensional culture. Moreover, spindle-shaped olfactory ensheathing cells tended to adopt an elongated bipolar morphology under both culture conditions. Experimental findings indicate that the morphological properties and proliferation of olfactory ensheathing cells in three-dimensional culture on collagen-heparan sulfate biological scaffolds are better than those in two-dimensional culture.

Keywords: biological scaffold; cell proliferation; morphological properties; neural regeneration; olfactory ensheathing cells; three-dimensional culture.