Main electrospinning setup with syringe, extruder and base plate
Flat platform for random nanofiber collecting process, with cathode attachment.
Rotating collector for aligned electrospinning process
Anode attachment for electrospinning process
DC power source
Cover slip being attached to rotating collector for electrospun aligned nanofibers
Top Row: Random Nanofibers on cover slips
Bottom: Random Nanofibers on cover slips
These images present cell sheets migration after 48 hrs incubation transfered from the 6 well plates. We have observed that the aligned fiber’s orientation had significantly affected on the Schwann cells migration. Images showed that cells had migrated longer distance when the sheet was parallel to fibers than perpendicular to the fibers. However, on the random fiber, cells’ migration became randomly but they still can move out with certain equal distance around the cell sheet.tion Here
Aligned Nano Fibers
Aligned Nanofibers
Random Nanofibers
Random nanofibers
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The Effect of Aligned and Random Nanofibers on Schwann Cell
Nerve cell once damaged cannot just grow back like the other parts of the body. Nervous tissue also develops over a lifetime. The nerve cells reach out to other cells to communicate. If a cell is damaged, that pathway of communication is gone and the circuit is gone. To fix nervous tissue new cells must be implanted and the cells need to be told where to grow to reestablish the communication connections. Nanofiber scaffolds will provide the support and direction to help nervous cells grow in the right directions.
Christopher Hand
Mechanical Engineering Technology Student, Rochester Institute of Technology, NY
Rochester, NY