Evaluation of cellular attachment and proliferation on different surface charged functional cellulose electrospun nanofibers

Abstract

Fabrication and characterization of different surface charged cellulose electrospun scaffolds including cellulose acetate (CA), cellulose, carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and quaternary ammonium cationic cellulose (QACC) for biomedical applications have been reported in this research. Several instrumental techniques were employed to characterize the nanofibers. MTT assay and cell attachment studies were also carried out to determine the cytocompatibility, viability and proliferation of the scaffolds. Fabricated CA, cellulose, CMC and QACC nanofibers had 100–600 nm diameter, −9, −1.75, −12.8, + 22 mV surface potential, 2.5, 4.2, 7.2, 7 MPa tensile strength, 122, 320, 515, 482 MPa Young modules, 430, 530, 670 and 642% water uptake and 92°, 58°, 45°, 47° contact angle respectively. The findings showed that cell adhesion and proliferation is strongly enhanced on the modified surfaces with quaternary ammonium and carboxymethyl groups. We believe the use of cationic and anionic surface modified cellulose electrospun nanofibers presents promising materials for biomedical applications.