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Oxygen plasma‐treated thermoresponsive polymer surfaces for cell sheet engineering
Author(s) -
Shimizu Kazunori,
Fujita Hideaki,
Nagamori Eiji
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
biotechnology and bioengineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.136
H-Index - 189
eISSN - 1097-0290
pISSN - 0006-3592
DOI - 10.1002/bit.22677
Subject(s) - lower critical solution temperature , polymer , wetting , thermoresponsive polymers in chromatography , chemical engineering , tissue engineering , surface roughness , materials science , oxygen , surface engineering , chemistry , poly(n isopropylacrylamide) , surface modification , nanotechnology , composite material , biomedical engineering , chromatography , copolymer , organic chemistry , medicine , high performance liquid chromatography , reversed phase chromatography , engineering
Although cell sheet tissue engineering is a potent and promising method for tissue engineering, an increase of mechanical strength of a cell sheet is needed for easy manipulation of it during transplantation or 3D tissue fabrication. Previously, we developed a cell sheet–polymer film complex that had enough mechanical strength that can be manipulated even by tweezers (Fujita et al., 2009. Biotechnol Bioeng 103(2): 370–377). We confirmed the polymer film involving a temperature sensitive polymer and extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins could be removed by lowering temperature after transplantation, and its potential use in regenerative medicine was demonstrated. However, the use of ECM proteins conflicted with high stability in long‐term storage and low cost. In the present study, to overcome these drawbacks, we employed the oxygen plasma treatment instead of using the ECM proteins. A cast and dried film of thermoresponsive poly‐ N ‐isopropylacrylamide (PNIPAAm) was fabricated and treated with high‐intensity oxygen plasma. The cells became possible to adhere to the oxygen plasma‐treated PNIPAAm surface, whereas could not to the inherent surface of bulk PNIPAAm without treatment. Characterizations of the treated surface revealed the surface had high stability. The surface roughness, wettability, and composition were changed, depending on the plasma intensity. Interestingly, although bulk PNIPAAm layer had thermoresponsiveness and dissolved below lower critical solution temperature (LCST), it was found that the oxygen plasma‐treated PNIPAAm surface lost its thermoresponsiveness and remained insoluble in water below LCST as a thin layer. Skeletal muscle C2C12 cells could be cultured on the oxygen plasma‐treated PNIPAAm surface, a skeletal muscle cell sheet with the insoluble thin layer could be released in the medium, and thus the possibility of use of the cell sheet for transplantation was demonstrated. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2010;106: 303–310. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.