Biological Effect of the Surface Modification of the Fibrous Poly(L-lactic acid) Scaffolds by Radio Frequency Magnetron Sputtering of Different Calcium-Phosphate Targets

Abstract

Biodegradable materials, in particular poly(L-lactic acid), are widely used in medicine and tissue engineering. Electrospinning is one of the most promising methods for the fabrication of scaffolds for tissue and organ regeneration. Due to their fibrous structure, high surface-to-volume ratio and great adjustability of electrospinning parameters such scaffolds are able to mimic the topology of the extracellular matrix (ECM) of a native human tissue. This paper demonstrates the effect of radio frequency magnetron sputtering (RFMS) modification of the poly(L-lactic acid) fibrous scaffolds on their structure and cell adhesion and proliferation. RFMS modification was performed using four different targets: hydroxyapatite (HAP), tricalcium phosphate (TCP), amorphous calcium pyrophosphate (CPP) and dicalcium phosphate dihydrate (DCPD). Biodegradable fibrous materials with maximum Ca/P ratio on the surface at 0.542 were obtained. It was observed that prolonged time of the treatment leads to destruction of the fibers on the surface layer of the scaffold. Moreover, we have indicated that all obtained materials demonstrate cytotoxic activity due to the formation of the toxic compounds on the material surface.