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Neurotrauma and neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, have devastating effects on the life of more than 30 million people worldwide. The demographic changes in the 21st century are expected to significantly increase this number with anticipated economic costs of multiple $ 100 billion by 2050. In general, these injuries or diseases result in irreversible structural disruption of the neuronal network accompanied by cell death. Unfortunately, adults have limited capability to actively regenerate or replace neuronal tissue. In present, the most prominent group of neuronal stimulation factors used today are neurotrophins, such as nerve growth factors (NGF). However, the short half-life time, fast diffusion and high cost of NGF, significantly limits their usage.
In this work, we investigate neuronal differentiation by employing piezoelectric polymer polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) as a potential substrate. Piezoelectric PVDF enables generation of electrical charges on its surface upon acoustic stimulation wirelessly, inducing neuritogenesis of PC12 cells. We demonstrate, that efficiency of neurite length induction by piezoelectric stimulation alone is comparable to that promoted by neuronal growth factors (NGF). We also found that the mechanism of piezoelectric stimulation is independent from the well-studied NGF induced mitogen-activated protein kinases / extracellular signal-regulated kinases (MAPK/ERK) pathway. The use of ultrasound, in combination with piezoelectric polymers, is advantageous since power transmission can occur with a high focused depth through biological tissues, which holds great promise for the development of non-invasive neuroregenerative devices.
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