Fibro-Neuronal Guidance on Common, 3D-Printed Textured Substrates

Ability to direct neuronal growth not only carries great potential for treating neural conditions-for example, bridging traumatically shattered connections-but would also be an exquisite tool for bionic applications that require a physical interface between neurons and electronics. A testing platform is needed to better understand axonal guidance in the context of a specific in vivo application. Versatility of 3D printing technology allows tailoring to researcher needs, both in vitro and in vivo. In this paper, we establish a fibro-neuronal co-culture inspired by our neural interface research and demonstrate axon alignment on a textured substrate fabricated with a common, versatile 3D-printing set-up.