Accelerated mineralization on nanofibers via non-thermal atmospheric plasma assisted glutamic acid templated peptide conjugation.

Günnur Onak,Ozan Karaman

doi:10.1093/rb/rbz014

Abstract

Surface modification by non-thermal atmospheric plasma (NTAP) treatment can produce significantly higher carboxylic groups on the nanofibers (NF) surface, which potentially can increase biomineralization of NF via promoting glutamic acid (GLU) templated peptide conjugation. Herein, electrospun poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) scaffolds were treated with NTAP and conjugated with GLU peptide followed by incubation in simulated body fluids for mineralization. The effect of NTAP treatment and GLU peptide conjugation on mineralization, surface wettability and roughness were investigated. The results showed that NTAP treatment significantly increased GLU peptide conjugation which consequently enhanced mineralization and mechanical properties of NTAP treated and peptide conjugated NF (GLU-pNF) compared to neat PLGA NF, NTAP treated NF (pNF) and GLU peptide conjugated NF (GLU-NF). The effect of surface modification on human bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells adhesion, proliferation and morphology was evaluated by cell proliferation assay and fluorescent microscopy. Results demonstrated that cellular adhesion and proliferation were significantly higher on GLU-pNF compared to NF, pNF and GLU-NF. In summary, NTAP treatment could be a promising modification technique to induce biomimetic peptide conjugation and biomineralization for bone tissue engineering applications.

Highlights

Scaffolds composed of hydroxyapatite (HA) and natural or synthetic polymers with tunable mechanical, chemical and physical properties, which can successfully mimic mineralized collagen nanofibers (NF) in bone tissue, are one of the major targets in bone tissue engineering [1, 2]
calcium phosphate (CaP) crystals were observed in both groups, maximum CaP deposition was achieved in glutamic acid (GLU)-pNF
All these studies and our results suggest that GLU peptide conjugation after non-thermal atmospheric plasma (NTAP) treatment causes formation of significantly higher number of carboxyl groups on NF compared to NF, pNF and GLU peptide conjugated NF (GLU-NF) groups, which enhances interaction with calcium ions in simulated body fluid (SBF) and CaP mineralization

Summary

Introduction

Scaffolds composed of hydroxyapatite (HA) and natural or synthetic polymers with tunable mechanical, chemical and physical properties, which can successfully mimic mineralized collagen nanofibers (NF) in bone tissue, are one of the major targets in bone tissue engineering [1, 2]. To fabricate such biomimetic scaffold, many fabrication techniques have been utilized including electrospinning, solvent casting, freeze-drying, laser sintering and 3D printing [3,4,5].

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Conclusion