Abstract
Surface modification techniques based on the grafting of chemical functional groups and immobilization of bioactive molecules have been used to improve biocompatibility and clinical performance of bioabsorbable scaffolds in tissue engineering and medicine regenerative applications. This study aimed at developing and characterizing a biomimetic surface to stimulate bone regeneration by a simple and low-cost method of surface biofunctionalization of the poly (L-co-D,L lactic acid)-PLDLA scaffolds. The method was obtained by grafting reaction of carboxyl groups (-COOH) on their surface via acrylic acid (AAc) polymerization process, followed by immobilization of collagen type I (Col). Such approach resulted in a surface morphology markedly modified after treatment, with increase of pores and roughness on PLDLA-AAc surfaces and a network of fibrillar collagen deposition in non-specific areas of PLDLA-Col surfaces. The cytocompatibility of collagen-immobilized scaffolds was significantly improved in terms of cellular adhesion, proliferation, collagen synthesis and maintenance of osteoblast-like phenotype, indicating, therefore, the fundamental role of collagen protein over the biological interactions that occur by bio-recognition mimetic mechanisms at biomaterials interface. These results indicate that the surface modification method used here may be useful as a strategy to develop biofunctional scaffolds, which provide a more successful clinical application of biomaterials in the tissue engineering field.
Highlights
The biggest challenges in tissue engineering and biomaterials science have been the production and development of biomaterials able to mimic the complexity, physicochemical specificity and dynamics of the extracellular matrix (ECM) of tissues in such a way as to stimulate biomaterial/host tissue interactions that will elicit specific biological responses and lead the functional repair of tissue[1]
Images of collagen immobilized PLDLA membranes showed that collagen was deposited as a heterogeneous bidimensional layer on membrane surface (Figure 1C)
PLDLA scaffolds treated with acrylic acid had a pore structure similar to unmodified scaffolds, there was an increase in surface roughness and the pore walls showed an irregular, microporous morphology (Figure 2B)
Summary
The biggest challenges in tissue engineering and biomaterials science have been the production and development of biomaterials able to mimic the complexity, physicochemical specificity and dynamics of the extracellular matrix (ECM) of tissues in such a way as to stimulate biomaterial/host tissue interactions that will elicit specific biological responses and lead the functional repair of tissue[1] To achieve this goal, the surface properties of biomaterials have been modified with mimetic functional molecules in order to enhance the biocompatibility of implantable devices by carrying specific cell signals or by preventing undesired biological events that occur at the interface of material surface and living tissues. (α-hydroxyacids) polymers such as poly (β-caprolactone), poly (L-lactic acid), poly (glycolicacid) and co-polymers are well-known bioabsorbable polymers that have been widely investigated as tissue engineering scaffolds The advantages of this class of materials include their biocompatibility, ease of processing and possibility of modulating their mechanical properties. The lack of natural cellular/tissue receptors that recognize these biomaterials and the hydrophobicity of a considerable number of polymers currently used in biomedical applications have severely limited the successful applications of biomaterials[2,3].
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