Modulating cellular hepatic fibrosis with anisotropic wrinkled topography

Abstract

The foreign body response caused by implanted biomaterials hampers their close integration and thereby result in a failure of the implant or tissue-engineering scaffolds, which represent a huge challenge. Here, we prepare anisotropic micro−/nano-wrinkled surfaces on polydimethylsiloxane that mediates hepatic stellate cell (HSC) responses and hepatic fibrosis. It is found that LX-2 cell attachment and morphology are greatly dependent on the wrinkle sizes. Further, the gene and protein expressions of hepatic fibrosis markers (i.e., α-SMA and Col-I) on wrinkled PDMS surface were reduced compared to the control group. Moreover, anisotropic wrinkled surfaces could accelerate the degradation of collagen by increasing the expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and decreasing the formation of MMPs inhibitors. This study provides an effective strategy for reducing the fibrotic response and thus improving the efficacy and safety of novel tissue-engineering scaffolds and implants.