Mechanism of inhibition on L929 rat fibroblasts proliferation induced by potential adhesion barrier material poly(p‐dioxanone‐co‐ l ‐phenylalanine) electrospun membranes

Fibroblast plays an important role in the occurrence of postoperative tissue adhesion; materials that have particular “cell–material” interactions to inhibit proliferation of fibroblast will be excellent potential adhesion barriers. In the current study, we synthesized copolymers of p‐dioxanone and l ‐phenylalanine (PDPA) and evaluated the mechanism of its particular inhibition effect on L929 fibroblast proliferation when used as a culture surface. PDPA electrospun membranes could induce apoptosis of L929 fibroblasts. We hypothesized there were two reasons for the apoptosis induction: one was the ability to facilitate cell adhesion of materials, and the other was production of the degradation product, l ‐phenylalanine. Ninhydrin colorimetric results revealed that l ‐phenylalanine was continuously released during the culture process and could induce apoptosis in L929 cells. Relatively poor cell adhesion and constant release of l ‐phenylalanine made PDPA‐1 to be the most efficient polymer for the induction of apoptosis. Analysis of apoptosis‐related genes revealed that PDPA‐induced apoptosis might be performed in a mitochondrial‐dependent pathway. But poly(p‐dioxanone)‐induced apoptosis might occur in a c‐Myc independent pathway that was different from PDPA. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 102A: 4062–4070, 2014.