Neural Tissue Engineering with Rat Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells: The Role of an Injectable, Resorbable Hydrogel Scaffold Derived from Oxidized Alginate and Gelatin

The central nervous system has limited regeneration potential. The multipotency of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADMSC) makes them an ideal autologous cell source for the regeneration of neural tissues. However, the likelihood of their differentiation into unwanted cell lineages when transplanted into a hostile injury environment is a serious disadvantage. Transplanting predifferentiated cells via an injectable carrier may aid in site-specific delivery for better survival of cells. Here, we focus on identifying an appropriate injectable hydrogel system that favors stem/progenitor cell attachment and differentiation for neural tissue engineering. An injectable composition of the hydrogel, derived from alginate dialdehyde (ADA) and gelatin, was formulated for this purpose. This hydrogel promoted proliferation/differentiation of ADMSCs to neural progenitors, visualized from the generation of prominent neurospheres and stage-specific expression of a neural progenitor marker (nestin, day 4), an intermittent neuronal marker (β-III tub, day 5), and a mature neuronal marker (MAP-2, day 8) with neural branching and networking (>85%). The differentiated cells also expressed the functional marker synaptophysin. There was no negative impact on stem/progenitor cell survival (>95%) or differentiation (∼90%) as compared to two-dimensional (2D) culture. Addition of appropriate quantities of asiatic acid specific for neural niche supported cell growth and differentiation without affecting cell survival (>90%) and improved neural branching and elongation. Optimized interconnected porous hydrogel niche exhibited rapid gelation (3 min) and self-healing properties mimicking native neural tissue. Both ADA–gelatin hydrogel by itself and that incorporated with asiatic acid were found to support stem/neural progenitor cell growth and differentiation and have potential applications as antioxidants and growth promoters upon release at the cell transplantation site. In short, the matrix itself or incorporated with phytomoieties could serve as a potential minimally invasive injectable cell delivery vehicle for cell-based therapies of neural diseases.