Department of Clinical Dentistry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
Chair of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine (TERM), University Hospital Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
J Biomed Mater Res A. 2021 Sep;109(9):1560-1574. doi: 10.1002/jbm.a.37151. Epub 2021 Mar 5.
Various types of synthetic polyesters have been developed as biomaterials for tissue engineering. These materials commonly possess biodegradability, biocompatibility, and formability, which are preferable properties for bone regeneration. The major challenge of using synthetic polyesters is the result of low cell affinity due to their hydrophobic nature, which hinders efficient cell seeding and active cell dynamics. To improve wettability, plasma treatment is widely used in industry. Here, we performed surface activation with oxygen plasma to hydrophobic copolymers, poly(l-lactide-co-trimethylene carbonate), which were shaped in 2D films and 3D microporous scaffolds, and then we evaluated the resulting surface properties and the cellular responses of rat bone marrow stem cells (rBMSC) to the material. Using scanning electron microscopy and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, we demonstrated that short-term plasma treatment increased nanotopographical surface roughness and wettability with minimal change in surface chemistry. On treated surfaces, initial cell adhesion and elongation were significantly promoted, and seeding efficiency was improved. In an osteoinductive environment, rBMSC on plasma-treated scaffolds exhibited accelerated osteogenic differentiation with osteogenic markers including RUNX2, osterix, bone sialoprotein, and osteocalcin upregulated, and a greater amount of collagen matrix and mineral deposition were found. This study shows the utility of plasma surface activation for polymeric scaffolds in bone tissue engineering.
已经开发出各种类型的合成聚酯作为组织工程的生物材料。这些材料通常具有可生物降解性、生物相容性和可成形性，这是骨再生的理想特性。使用合成聚酯的主要挑战是由于其疏水性导致的细胞亲和力低，这阻碍了有效的细胞接种和活性细胞动力学。为了提高润湿性，等离子体处理在工业中得到了广泛应用。在这里，我们对形状为 2D 薄膜和 3D 微孔支架的疏水性共聚物聚（L-丙交酯-共-三亚甲基碳酸酯）进行了氧等离子体表面活化，然后评估了所得表面性质和大鼠骨髓间充质干细胞（rBMSC）对材料的细胞反应。通过扫描电子显微镜和傅里叶变换红外光谱，我们证明了短期等离子体处理可以在最小化表面化学变化的情况下提高纳米形貌表面粗糙度和润湿性。在处理过的表面上，初始细胞黏附和伸长显著促进，并且提高了接种效率。在成骨诱导环境中，在等离子体处理支架上的 rBMSC 表现出加速的成骨分化，成骨标志物包括 RUNX2、osterix、骨唾液蛋白和骨钙素上调，并且发现更多的胶原蛋白基质和矿物质沉积。这项研究表明，等离子体表面活化在骨组织工程中的聚合物支架中的实用性。
