Abstract
This work describes the interaction of the human blood plasma proteins albumin, fibrinogen, and γ-globulins with micro- and nanopatterned polymer interfaces. Protein adsorption studies were correlated with the fibrin clotting time of human blood plasma and with the growth of primary human pulmonary artery endothelial cells (hECs) on these patterns. It was observed that blends of polycaprolactone (PCL) and trimethylsilyl-protected cellulose form various thin-film patterns during spin coating, depending on the mass ratio of the polymers in the spinning solutions. Vapor-phase acid-catalyzed deprotection preserves these patterns but yields interfaces that are composed of hydrophilic cellulose domains enclosed by hydrophobic PCL. The blood plasma proteins are repelled by the cellulose domains, allowing for a suggested selective protein deposition on the PCL domains. An inverse proportional correlation is observed between the amount of cellulose present in the films and the mass of irreversibly adsorbed proteins. This results in significantly increased fibrin clotting times and lower masses of deposited clots on cellulose-containing films as revealed by quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation measurements. Cell viability of hECs grown on these surfaces was directly correlated with higher protein adsorption and faster clot formation. The results show that presented patterned polymer composite surfaces allow for a controllable blood plasma protein coagulation and a significant biological response from hECs. It is proposed that this knowledge can be utilized in regenerative medicine, cell cultures, and artificial vascular grafts by a careful choice of polymers and patterns.
Highlights
The phase separation patterns of spin-coated films composed of TMSC and PCL can be largely influenced by the polymer ratio of the spinning solution (Figure 1)
It is proposed widely that cellulose is a beneficial and suitable material worth to be investigated in the field of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering as a scaffold.[51−53] Our observation is that human pulmonary artery endothelial cells (hECs) show a statistically significant reduced viability when grown on flat hydrophilic cellulose surfaces (SCA(H2O): 26 ± 2°) compared to hydrophobic PCL or blends made of both polymers (Figure 8)
It is concluded that PCL can be blended into thin films with TMSC because of its similarities in the solubility
Summary
Among them polycaprolactone (PCL), and biogenic polymers such as cellulose in different forms are promising biomaterials for medical applications related to tissue regeneration and artificial vascular grafts.[1−4] Though PCL and cellulose were thoroughly studied materials with respect to their distinct physical and chemical properties, detailed investigations on biomolecular and cell interactions on their surface are relatively uncommon for PCL and cellulose.[1,5] Such basic detailed studies though allow drawing conclusions on how living systems and biological matter interact with materials being composed of either PCL or cellulose.[6,7] Plenty of polymer surface parameters can be studied from a physical, biological, and medical point of view. The same instrument is used to determine the fibrin clotting time, a measure of the anti-coagulative properties of the blend surfaces These properties are directly correlated with the growth of primary human pulmonary artery endothelial cells (hECs) on the materials because hECs form the endothelium of the vasculature, the surface directly in contact with blood.[24] Understanding the interaction of the cells and human blood plasma with the described materials should pave the way for implantable, degradable vascular grafts for autologous tissue regeneration.[11]
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