Adhesion and spreading of human skin fibroblasts on physicochemically characterized gradient surfaces

Abstract

In this study, adhesion and spreading of human skin fibroblasts on gradient surfaces of dichlorodimethylsilane (DDS) coupled to glass was investigated. Gradient surfaces were prepared by the diffusion technique and characterized by the Wilhelmy plate technique and characterized by the Wilhelmy plate technique for their wettability and by scanning x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy for their chemical surface composition. A linear relation between the gradient length, based on advancing water contact angles, and the square root of the diffusion time of DDS was observed. XPS analysis and the cellular experiments were carried out on gradient surfaces prepared using a diffusion time of 3 h. A continuously varying chemical composition with Si/O elemental surface concentration ratio being highest on the hydrophobic end of the gradient surfaces. In the presence of serum proteins, human skin fibroblasts seeded on these gradient surfaces showed a preferential adhesion onto the steepest part of the gradient, probably due to an optimal local wettability and/or local chemistry. Furthermore, it was shown that the spread area of human fibroblasts increased over the length of the gradient surface when going from the hydrophobic to the hydrophilic end. Summarizing, this study shows that the use of gradient surfaces to study cellular responses to materials surface properties, like wettability, yields more-convincing conclusions than the use of a variety of materials with different wettabilities due to the control of the specific surface chemistry of gradient surfaces.

Physical properties and cellular responses to crosslinkable poly(propylene fumarate)/hydroxyapatite nanocomposites

“…After 4 days, fully connected, complex networks of actin filaments throughout attached cells were observed on PPF/HA disks as HA composition increases. This actin cytoskeleton organization is a prerequisite for maintaining cell morphology and adhesion between cultured cells and substrate surfaces and also for facilitating subsequent cell spreading and proliferation [43], and may be promoted through enhanced adsorption of extracellular matrix proteins from the culture milieu [45,46]. The present experimental data reveal that the addition of HA nanoparticles enhances cell spreading as well as cytoskeleton organization on PPF/HA nanocomposites, demonstrating increased complex actin filaments as HA composition increases.…”

Relative importance of surface wettability and charged functional groups on NIH 3T3 fibroblast attachment, spreading, and cytoskeletal organization

“…15 Other groups have observed a maximum number of adherent cells on regions of methyl-silica gradient surfaces at moderate levels of wettability comparable to that of amine-modified surfaces. 16 Currently, the relative importance of surface wettability and surface charge in influencing how cells adhere to a surface, the morphology they assume, and the cytoskeletal organization they develop remains unclear. To the best of our knowledge, no single investigation has utilized a broad range of model surface chemistries to study this interaction.…”

Biomimetic micro/nanostructured functional surfaces for microfluidic and tissue engineering applications

“…In some studies, cell functions are enhanced on hydrophilic surfaces, 119,[125][126][127] whereas in others, cell functions are enhanced on hydrophobic surfaces. [128][129][130][131] While in other cases, surface energy has no effect on cell functions 131,132 or cell functions have a maximum at an intermediate surface energy. 127,133,134 This broad range of outcomes is possibly a result of the wide variability in experimental conditions such as cell types, incubation times, culture conditions, surface chemistries, and topographies.…”