Surface Modification of Electrospun Polycaprolactone Nanofiber Meshes by Plasma Treatment to Enhance Biological Performance

Abstract

A critical aspect in the development of biomaterials is the optimization of their surface properties to achieve an adequate cell response. In the present work, electrospun polycaprolactone nanofiber meshes (NFMs) are treated by radio-frequency (RF) plasma using different gases (Ar or O(2)), power (20 or 30 W), and exposure time (5 or 10 min). Morphological and roughness analysis show topographical changes on the plasma-treated NFMs. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results indicate an increment of the oxygen-containing groups, mainly --OH and --C==O, at the plasma-treated surfaces. Accordingly, the glycerol contact angle results demonstrate a decrease in the hydrophobicity of plasma-treated meshes, particularly in the O(2)-treated ones. Three model cell lines (fibroblasts, chondrocytes, and osteoblasts) are used to study the effect of plasma treatments over the morphology, cell adhesion, and proliferation. A plasma treatment with O(2) and one with Ar are found to be the most successful for all the studied cell types. The influence of hydrophilicity and roughness of those NFMs on their biological performance is discussed. Despite the often claimed morphological similarity of NFMs to natural extracellular matrixes, their surface properties contribute substantially to the cellular performance and therefore those should be optimized.

The effect of electrospun polycaprolactone scaffold morphology on human kidney epithelial cells

“…Our results regarding the use of plasma treatment to increase the hydrophilicity of polymer scaffolds largely correlates with previous studies (Martins et al 2009;Yan et al 2013;Suntornnond et al 2016;Ghobeira et al 2017), showing an altered surface chemistry whilst retaining the same mechanical properties. This results in a dramatic increase in the hydrophilicity, as demonstrated through water contact angle tests.…”

“…Average O in plasma treated and nonplasma treated scaffolds was 26.0±1.5 % and 21.7±0.7 % respectively, and average carbon present (C) in plasma treated and non-plasma treated scaffolds was 74.0±1.5% and 78.4±0.7 % respectively. This increase in surface oxygen is a direct result of surface oxidation due to O2 plasma treatment (Martins et al 2009;Jordá-Vilaplana et al 2014). Issues arose due to scaffold porosity that prevented attaining measurements for plasma treated SC, table 2.…”

Tissue engineering scaffold electrospun from poly(ε- caprolactone)-b-poly(sulfobetaine methacrylate) block copolymers with improved hydrophilicity and good cytocompatibility

“…As can be seen from Table 2, the initial water contact angle of PCL was 102°, which is higher than that on flat surface. The main reason is due to the pinning effect, that is, contact angle on rough surfaces shifted to more hydrophobic values [33], and the value was shown to be stable during the studied time periods [34,35]. But the water contact angles of the PCL-PSBMAs were time-dependent, that is, the values continuously decreased with the time (Fig.…”

Tissue Engineering of Skeletal Muscle

“…However, PCL is also highly hydrophobic and therefore shows poor cell attachment in vitro (Zhang, H. & Hollister 2009). Hence, the hydrophobicity of PCL has to be attenuated before cell seeding through plasma treatment (Martins et al 2009) or by coating the scaffold or blending with other materials like collagen to enhance cell attachment (Schnell et al 2007, Zhang, Y.Z. et al 2005.…”

“…Different polymers can therefore be combined primarily by spinning polymer-blend solutions, core-shell spinning or co-spinning of different polymer solutions. Methods for secondary surface modification are coating (Riboldi et al 2005) or plasma treatment (Martins et al 2009) of the matrix after the spinning procedure. Blending different polymers, e.g.…”