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Injury to the central nervous system caused by traumatic brain and/or spinal cord injury, stroke, autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases and hypoxia all evoke a repair process involving angio-genesis and neuro-genesis. Optimal structural and functional recovery is dependent upon a coupled angio- and neuro-genesis, which occur in specific neurogenic zones in the Central Nervous System (CNS). This coupled response is thought to provide the individual with the cellular elements that effect repair and ultimately clinical improvement. However, only some affected individuals survive and exhibit evidence of clinical improvement following these injuries/disease states and the improvement is variable. A more complete understanding of the cell biology of the cells comprising this niche and their dynamic interactions with each other and the surrounding extracellular matrix is crucial to our ability to beneficially intervene therapeutically to increase the percentage of affected individuals surviving and exhibiting clinical improvement and the extent of their improvement. In this chapter we discuss the importance of biocompatible engineered scaffolds that mimic the structural and functional properties of the CNS neurogenic zones in developing tissue culture and animal models which will allow a better, more detailed understanding of cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions crucial for maintenance of niche cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration and differentiation and the ultimate development of implantable stem cell containing scaffolds as a therapeutic approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Culturing neurons is an effective way to analyze the basic mechanisms that govern nervous system wiring. The choice of an appropriate molecular substrate is of prime importance to the main objective of the culture. We describe the preparation of basic 2D substrates, complex 2D substrates, and 3D substrates to culture neurons to evaluate neurotrophic activity of exogenous compounds. Complex 2D substrates allow analysis of guidance signals in a mixture of molecules mimicking the in vivo environment. In this case, the spatial distribution of the factors can be controlled by forming stripes (alternating substrates) or gradients. The use of 3D substrates is in our opinion the best choice to analyze the growth of axons from explants exposed to guidance signals. This method establishes standard and highly reproducible culture conditions for a given neuronal type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]