School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, United Kingdom.
Department of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, Faculty of Science and Engineering, The University of Manchester, United Kingdom.
Nanotechnology. 2021 Jan 29;32(5):055101. doi: 10.1088/1361-6528/abc1a3.
Graphene and its derivatives have shown fascinating potential in biomedical applications. However, the biocompatibility of graphene with vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) and applications to vascular engineering have not been explored extensively. Using a rat aortic smooth muscle cell line, A7r5, as a VSMC model, we have explored the effects of graphene oxide (GO) on the growth and behaviours of VSMCs. Results demonstrated that GO had no obvious toxicity to VSMCs. Cells cultured on GO retained the expression of smooth muscle cell-specific markers CNN1, ACTA2 and SMTN, on both mRNA and protein levels. A wound healing assay demonstrated no effect of GO on cell migration. We also found that small-flaked GO favoured the proliferation of VSMCs, suggesting a potential of using surface chemistry or physical properties of GO to influence cell growth behaviour. These results provide insight into the suitability of GO as a scaffold for vascular tissue engineering.
石墨烯及其衍生物在生物医学应用中显示出了迷人的潜力。然而，石墨烯与血管平滑肌细胞（VSMCs）的生物相容性以及在血管工程中的应用尚未得到广泛探索。我们使用大鼠主动脉平滑肌细胞系 A7r5 作为 VSMC 模型，探索了氧化石墨烯（GO）对 VSMCs 生长和行为的影响。结果表明，GO 对 VSMCs 没有明显的毒性。在 GO 上培养的细胞在 mRNA 和蛋白质水平上保留了平滑肌细胞特异性标志物 CNN1、ACTA2 和 SMTN 的表达。划痕愈合实验表明 GO 对细胞迁移没有影响。我们还发现小片状 GO 有利于 VSMCs 的增殖，这表明可以利用 GO 的表面化学性质或物理性质来影响细胞生长行为。这些结果为 GO 作为血管组织工程支架的适用性提供了深入了解。
