Gene expression in spinal cord neurons grown on polyornithine or on carbon nanotube (CNT)-based substrates. Rattus norvegicus

Carbon nanotubes are cylindrically-shaped carbon nanostructures, made up of layers of graphene rolled onto themselves, with diameters similar to those of neuronal processes. In the last decade, CNT have been used as biocompatible growing substrates for neuronal attachment, differentiation and growth. In the perspective of new developments in tissue engineering, and in particular in spinal cord repair strategies, based on the use of CNTs, our aim is to clarify the biophysical interactions between CNTs and spinal cord neurons, studying the development of the morphological and functional characteristics of spinal neurons grown on CNT-based interfaces. In this context, we used microarrays to show whether cultured dissociated spinal neurons show a difference in gene expression when grown in control conditions (polyornithine-covered substrates) or on CNT-based substrates. Overall design: Gene expression profiling was evaluated from 3 replicates each of neurons grown on nanotubes and control conditions.