Role of dimensionality on spinal cord dendrites

It is important to focus on creating tissue-engineering platforms to promote dendrite outgrowth for nerve regeneration. To date, 2D and 3D collagen gels have been used to tissue-engineer neurons. However, no studies have compared the tissue engineering capacities of both gels of various concentrations on dendrite outgrowth. Here, we compared dendrite outgrowth on 2D and 3D collagen gels of various concentrations. Neurons plated in 3D gels showed a significant increase in number and neurons plated on 2D gels showed a significant increase in length. Future experiments will correlate the structure-function relationship of the gels.