Fig. 5

Preconditioned NSCs in the 3D mesh scaffold: Cell attachment, proliferation, and differentiation. a Appearance of the mesh scaffold itself via SEM and b observation of NSCs-seeded mesh scaffold at 1 day via DAPI staining. The scale bar is 200 μm. c NSC proliferation in each mesh scaffold at 1, 3, and 5 days as assessed via CCK-8 assay (n = 3, each group). TCP_Mesh, S-CHDM_Mesh, and N-CHDM_Mesh suggest the experimental groups loaded with NSCs preconditioned on different 2D substrates: TCP, S-CHDM, and N-CHDM, respectively before transfer to mesh scaffolds. d Appearance of the NSCs-mesh scaffolds at 3 weeks via phase contrast microscope. e Representative immunofluorescence images show the NSCs-derived, newly synthesized COL II (green) in the mesh scaffolds at 3 weeks, along with F-actin (red) and DAPI (blue) staining. The pink color indicates the mesh scaffold. Statistically significant difference as marked *p < 0.05 or **p < 0.01