Effects of GO and rGO incorporated nanofibrous scaffolds on the proliferation of Schwann cells

Graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) are two of the most representative graphene derivatives that can be employed to engineer bioactive and/or electroactive scaffolds for neural tissue engineering (NTE). However, a comparison with regard to their chemical structural impact on cytocompatibility has yet to be performed. In this study, GO was prepared using a modified Hummers' method followed by thermal treatment to obtain the rGO. Thereafter, a stable jet electrospinning approach was used to electrospin a viscous mixed solution of polycaprolactone (PCL)/poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) (mass ratio 4:1) containing a tiny amount of GO and rGO (1% w/w), for the generation of highly-aligned nanoscale fibers of PCL-PEO-GO and PCL-PEO-rGO, respectively. Structural characteristics and physicochemical properties of the GO and/or rGO incorporated PCL-PEO nanofibers were characterized by various analytical techniques including Raman, FTIR, SEM, water drop contact angle, cyclic voltammetry and tensile testing. Finally, biological study in vitro by culturing the fibrous scaffolds with murine Schwann cells for cytocompatibility evaluation demonstrated that comparatively PCL-PEO-GO scaffold could more favorably promote the proliferation of the Schwann cells. However, considering the noted higher electroconductivity, the fibrous PCL-PEO-rGO may be applied to induce stem cell differentiation towards neural lineage. This research could provide a guidance for judicious selection of the GO and rGO incorporated nanofibers to construct electroactive scaffolds for engineering functional neural tissues.