Neuron-like cell differentiation of hADSCs promoted by copper sulfide nanostructure mediated plasmonic effect driven by near-infrared light

Nerve is one of the most difficult tissues to repair due to the limited source of neural stem cells and the difficulty to promote the neural differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells by growth factors. Electromagnetic field has been proved to have the ability to regulate stem cells differentiation. Although some researches promoted neural differentiation of stem cells by external power source, it is still a big challenge to realize the nerve repair in bodies because of the unwieldiness and complexity of the power supply equipment. Surface plasmon (SP) is electromagnetic oscillation caused by the interaction of free electrons and photons on metal surface, and almost no one has used this localized electromagnetic oscillation to regulate stem cells differentiation. In this study, based on the concept proposed by our group that “Regulation of stem cell fate by nanostructure mediated physical signal”, the localized electromagnetic oscillation generated by the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of copper sulfide (CuS) nanostructure irradiated by near-infrared light has been proved to have positive regulation on stem cell maturation and neuron-like cell differentiation of human adipose-derived stem cells (hADSCs). This regulation method avoids the use of wire connection of external power source, which realizes the stem cell fate regulation by external field. In addition, this work demonstrated that it is promising to realize the light promoted nerve repair in bodies by using implantable plasmonic nanomaterial with absorption in near-infrared region within human “optical window”, which has important academic value and application prospect. As we know, this is the first time to use semiconductor nanostructures as a medium to regulate stem cells neuron-like cell differentiation by near-infrared light and LSPR of plasmonic nanomaterial, which will have great influence on biomedical engineering and attract broad attention from nanomaterials scientist, neurobiologist, and neurosurgeon.