Tissue scaffolds for electrically excitable cells

Abstract

Inventive concepts relate generally to nanofibrous scaffolds useful for electrophysiological assays. Scaffolds include polymeric nanofibrous components and electrically excitable cells immobilized at a distinct cell seeding domains on the scaffold. Methods and kits including the scaffolds are also described.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 61 / 890,193, entitled “CELL GROWTH SUBSTRATES CONTAINING OPEN FIELD ARCHITECTURES,” filed Oct. 12, 2013, the contents of which are incorporated herein in their entirety for all purposes.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]Inventive concepts relate generally to the field of drug discovery and drug development for the screening of disease treatment.BACKGROUND[0003]The global drug discovery technologies market is projected to reach $19.9 Billion by 2017. In the primary methodology, High Throughput drug Screening process (HTS), massive libraries of chemical entities are evaluated for activity towards a target of interest, often expressed in a suitable cell line.[0004]This identification process is then followed by hit confirmation, hit expansion, and lead optimization for drug candidates. Additionally, high-content screening utilizing fluorescence, morphologica...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent is about a new technology that uses nanofibrous materials to create scaffolds for electrophysiological assays. These scaffolds mimic the natural environment where cells exist, allowing for the generation of human and non-human brain slices that can be used for drug screening and other electrophysiological stimulation or recording techniques. The scaffolds can also be used to grow other types of cells and tissues with high physiological relevance. The technology can provide advantages such as in vivo-like electrophysiology, superior predictive power, lower cost, and higher throughput compared to traditional methods.

Problems solved by technology

However, the low number of brain slices that can be produced per animal, coupled with the high costs of animal care and their labor-intensive use, is a significant drawback to this approach.

Moreover, due to interspecies genetic variation, preclinical data acquired through the use of rodent brain slices will be of limited predictive power for human clinical trials and postmarket surveillance.

Unfortunately, HTS most often examines the effect of drugs on single cells grown in a context that largely lacks in vivo-like characteristics such as nanotopography and cell-cell contacts with various cell types found in native tissues.

This increases the chance for mischaracterization of a drug's effects including the misidentification or non-identification of likely off-target effects.

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