Growth and behaviour of bovine articular chondrocytes on nanoengineered surfaces: Part I

Abstract

Surface modification, using biomaterials to mimic in vivo cell microenvironment, plays an important role in tissue engineering. Current work studies the growth and behaviour of primary bovine articular chondrocytes on layer-by-layer self-assembled nanofilms of 11 different biomaterials, including polyelectrolytes and proteins [poly(styrene sulphonate) (PSS), fibronectin, poly-L-lysine (PLL), poly-D-lysine (PDL), laminin, bovine serum albumin (BSA), chondroitin sulphate (CS), poly(ethyleneimine) (PEI), poly(dimethyldiallylammonium chloride) (PDDA), collagen and poly(ethylene glycol) amine (PEG-NH2)]. Mono-, bi-, and tri-layer nanofilm architectures were deposited on 24-, 96-well plate polystyrene surfaces. Surface roughness of nanofilms was determined using atomic force microscopy. Chondrocytes cultured on nanofilms were analysed using microscopy, live-dead viability assay, and MTT proliferation assay. Statistical analyses of chondrocyte viability and metabolic activity results on mono-, bi-, and tri-layer nanofilm architectures indicate the significant influence of cell seeding density and number of nanofilm layers on the viability and metabolic activity of chondrocytes.