Dissociated neurons cultured on to laminin-coated smooth, pitted, and divoted fibers.

Neurons on smooth (A), pitted (B), and divoted (C) fibers responded differently to the various surface nanotopographical features on the fibers despite being pre-coated with laminin (100 μm scale bars, white arrows highlight neurite branching points). Polar histograms of mean neurite length and directionality show qualitative differences between neurons on the different fiber types (D). Longest neurite length (E), total neurite length (F), and the number of branch points per neuron (G) were quantified to compare morphological differences between neurons on the different fiber types. Electrospun fibers (not shown) are oriented vertically in all neuron images. Statistical significance between values in D-G was determined via ANOVA and post-hoc Student’s t-test (p<0.05). (N = 46 for neurons on smooth fibers, 48 for neurons on pitted fibers, and 45 for neurons on divoted fibers, data are presented as mean ± standard error of means).