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Analysis of institutional authors

Gracía-López SAuthorMartínez-Serrano AAuthorPereira MAuthor

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October 19, 2020
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Article

Pyrolytic Carbon Nanograss Enhances Neurogenesis and Dopaminergic Differentiation of Human Midbrain Neural Stem Cells

Publicated to:Advanced Healthcare Materials. 9 (20): 2001108- - 2020-10-01 9(20), DOI: 10.1002/adhm.202001108

Authors: Asif A; Gracía-López S; Heiskanen A; Martínez-Serrano A; Keller SS; Pereira M; Emnéus J

Affiliations

CSIC-UAM - Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa (CBM) - Author
Ctr Mol Biol Severo Ochoa UAM CSIC, Dept Mol Neuropathol, Nicolas Cabrera 1, Madrid 28049, Spain - Author
Danmarks Tekniske Universitet - Author
DTU Bioengn, Dept Biotechnol & Biomed, Prod Storvet, Bldg 423,Room 122, DK-2800 Lyngby, Denmark - Author
DTU Nanolab, Natl Ctr Nano Fabricat & Characterizat, Bldg 347, DK-2800 Lyngby, Denmark - Author
Univ Autonoma Madrid, Dept Mol Biol, Madrid 28049, Spain - Author
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid - Author
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Abstract

© 2020 Wiley-VCH GmbH Advancements in research on the interaction of human neural stem cells (hNSCs) with nanotopographies and biomaterials are enhancing the ability to influence cell migration, proliferation, gene expression, and tailored differentiation toward desired phenotypes. Here, the fabrication of pyrolytic carbon nanograss (CNG) nanotopographies is reported and demonstrated that these can be employed as cell substrates boosting hNSCs differentiation into dopaminergic neurons (DAn), a long-time pursued goal in regenerative medicine based on cell replacement. In the near future, such structures can play a crucial role in the near future for stem-cell based cell replacement therapy (CRT) and bio-implants for Parkinson's disease (PD). The unique combination of randomly distributed nanograss topographies and biocompatible pyrolytic carbon material is optimized to provide suitable mechano-material cues for hNSCs adhesion, division, and DAn differentiation of midbrain hNSCs. The results show that in the presence of the biocoating poly-L-lysine (PLL), the CNG enhances hNSCs neurogenesis up to 2.3-fold and DAn differentiation up to 3.5-fold. Moreover, for the first time, consistent evidence is provided, that CNGs without any PLL coating are not only supporting cell survival but also lead to significantly enhanced neurogenesis and promote hNSCs to acquire dopaminergic phenotype compared to PLL coated topographies.

Keywords

carbon nanograssdopaminergic differentiationhuman neural stem cellsparkinson's diseasePyrolytic

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Advanced Healthcare Materials due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2020, it was in position 8/90, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Engineering, Biomedical. Notably, the journal is positioned above the 90th percentile.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from the Field Citation Ratio (FCR) of the Dimensions source, it yields a value of: 1.25, which indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: Dimensions Aug 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-08-03, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 5
  • Scopus: 8
  • Europe PMC: 4

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-08-03:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 26.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 27 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 0.25.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 1 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Denmark.