Positive Effect of Cold Atmospheric Nitrogen Plasma on the Behavior of Mesenchymal Stem Cells Cultured on a Bone Scaffold Containing Iron Oxide-Loaded Silica Nanoparticles Catalyst.

Agata Przekora,Joanna Pawlat,Piotr Terebun,Cristina Canal,Michal Wojcik,Grazyna Ginalska,Sophie Hermans,David Duday,Michal Kwiatkowski,Jean-Sébastien Thomann,Maïté Audemar,Cédric Labay

doi:10.3390/ijms21134738

Abstract

Low-temperature atmospheric pressure plasma was demonstrated to have an ability to generate different reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS), showing wide biological actions. Within this study, mesoporous silica nanoparticles (NPs) and FexOy/NPs catalysts were produced and embedded in the polysaccharide matrix of chitosan/curdlan/hydroxyapatite biomaterial. Then, basic physicochemical and structural characterization of the NPs and biomaterials was performed. The primary aim of this work was to evaluate the impact of the combined action of cold nitrogen plasma and the materials produced on proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADSCs), which were seeded onto the bone scaffolds containing NPs or FexOy/NPs catalysts. Incorporation of catalysts into the structure of the biomaterial was expected to enhance the formation of plasma-induced RONS, thereby improving stem cell behavior. The results obtained clearly demonstrated that short-time (16s) exposure of ADSCs to nitrogen plasma accelerated proliferation of cells grown on the biomaterial containing FexOy/NPs catalysts and increased osteocalcin production by the cells cultured on the scaffold containing pure NPs. Plasma activation of FexOy/NPs-loaded biomaterial resulted in the formation of appropriate amounts of oxygen-based reactive species that had positive impact on stem cell proliferation and at the same time did not negatively affect their osteogenic differentiation. Therefore, plasma-activated FexOy/NPs-loaded biomaterial is characterized by improved biocompatibility and has great clinical potential to be used in regenerative medicine applications to improve bone healing process.

Highlights

Plasma is an ionized gas that comprises various molecules, electrons, ions, excited species, and radicals
The iron loading of NPs was measured by inductively coupled plasma (ICP), which gave a value of 4.7 wt.% and 4.9 wt.% for the Mobil Composition of Matter No 48 (MCM-48) and mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNPs) materials, respectively
Within this study it was observed that extrinsic H2O2 generated by nitrogen plasma and intrinsic H2O2 generated by the presence of FexOy-free MSNPs in the scaffold positively affected expression of OC gene, but did not compensate the negative effect of MSNPs presence for the expression of bone alkaline phosphatase (bALP) and Col I genes

Summary

Introduction

Plasma is an ionized gas that comprises various molecules, electrons, ions, excited species, and radicals. In the field of biomaterials engineering, cold plasma technology is primarily used for surface functionalization with hydrophilic chemical groups to enhance cell adhesion and proliferation on the implants [10]. Atmospheric pressure plasma is used to improve surface properties of the biomaterials, especially wettability and roughness that are known to significantly influence biocompatibility of the implants [11,12]. Materials scientists frequently use atmospheric pressure plasma combined with oxygen, argon, air, ammonia, or nitrogen gas for biocompatibility improvement of various polymeric biomaterials [5,6,7,8]. Atmospheric plasma processes are used to graft molecules on the surface of biomaterials [13]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion