Open AccessOn the biocompatibility of graphene oxide towards vascular smooth muscle cells
Author(s) -
Jianzhen Ren,
George Braileanu,
Patricia Gorgojo,
Cristina Vallés,
Adam Dickinson,
Aravind Vijayaraghavan,
Tao Wang
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
nanotechnology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.926
H-Index - 203
eISSN - 1361-6528
pISSN - 0957-4484
DOI - 10.1088/1361-6528/abc1a3
Subject(s) - vascular smooth muscle , biocompatibility , graphene , materials science , vascular tissue , tissue engineering , smooth muscle , nanotechnology , microbiology and biotechnology , cell , cell growth , oxide , biophysics , biomedical engineering , biology , biochemistry , medicine , endocrinology , botany , metallurgy
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 CNN 1, ACTA 2 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.