Electrical stimulation-induced osteogenesis of human adipose derived stem cells using a conductive graphene-cellulose scaffold.

The versatile properties of graphene-based materials are enabling various tissue regeneration, towards meeting an ever increasing demand for replacement tissues due to injury through trauma and disease. In particular, an innate ability for graphene to promote osteogenic differentiation of stem cells, combined with the potential to enhance the biological activity of cells through electrical stimulation (ES) using graphene, supports its use for osteoinduction or reconstruction. In this paper, we describe a miniaturized graphene-cellulose (G-C) scaffold-based device that incorporates electroactive G-C 'paper' within a polystyrene chamber for concomitant cell culture and ES. The G-C electrodes possessed lower impedance and higher charge injection capacity than gold (Au) electrodes, with high stability. By coupling ES with previously reported properties of the G-C scaffolds, we have advanced the platform for improved adipose derived stem cell (ADSC) support and osteogenic differentiation. We anticipate using the G-C scaffold-based ES device for in vitro modelling of osteogenic induction, bone tissue engineering and in vivo bone regeneration towards new therapeutic strategies for bone injury and disease. Furthermore, the device could reasonably be used for ES and culture of other cell types and engineering other tissues.