Summary
Neural stem cells hold promise for repairing spinal cord injury, but keeping them viable and steering them reliably toward the right cell type remain major obstacles. This study develops a non-woven scaffold of co-electrospun poly-l-lactic acid (PLLA) and gelatin fibres whose degradation rate and mechanical properties resemble those of peripheral nerve tissue, and uses it to control the fate of engineered neural stem-like cells. The fibres act as a reservoir that releases the instructive signalling molecules retinoic acid and purmorphamine in a controlled way. Cells seeded on the scaffolds, with and without these cues, differentiated into motor neurons — confirmed by immunostaining for β-III-tubulin, HB-9, Islet-1 and choline acetyltransferase — and the bioactive mats also promoted neurite outgrowth. The findings suggest that pairing electrospun fibre scaffolds with neural stem cells and controlled cue delivery is a promising strategy for nerve-injury repair.