Tuning Cell Behavior on 3D Scaffolds Fabricated by Atmospheric Plasma-Assisted Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) scaffolds with optimum physicochemical properties are able to elicit specific cellular behaviors and guide tissue formation. However, cell–material interactions are limited in scaffolds fabricated by melt extrusion additive manufacturing (ME-AM) of synthetic polymers, and plasma treatment can be used to render the surface of the scaffolds more cell adhesive. In this study, a hybrid AM technology, which combines a ME-AM technique with an atmospheric pressure plasma jet, was employed to fabricate and plasma treat scaffolds in a single process. The organosilane monomer (3-aminopropyl)trimethoxysilane (APTMS) and a mixture of maleic anhydride and vinyltrimethoxysilane (MA-VTMOS) were used for the first time to plasma treat 3D scaffolds. APTMS treatment deposited plasma-polymerized films containing positively charged amine functional groups, while MA-VTMOS introduced negatively charged carboxyl groups on the 3D scaffolds’ surface. Argon plasma activation was used as a control. All plasma treatments increased the surface wettability and protein adsorption to the surface of the scaffolds and improved cell distribution and proliferation. Notably, APTMS-treated scaffolds also allowed cell attachment by electrostatic interactions in the absence of serum. Interestingly, cell attachment and proliferation were not significantly affected by plasma treatment-induced aging. Also, while no significant differences were observed between plasma treatments in terms of gene expression, human mesenchymal stromal cells (hMSCs) could undergo osteogenic differentiation on aged scaffolds. This is probably because osteogenic differentiation is rather dependent on initial cell confluency and surface chemistry might play a secondary role.

Plasma Damage Control: From Biomolecules to Cells and Skin

“…The high temperature during plasma treatment, high RONS flux, and energetic UV emissions can lead to cell and tissue damage and must be controlled. 32 Moreover, recent advances in biomedical sciences employ APPJs to locally functionalize and activate scaffolds for enhanced cell adhesion and controlled tissue growth 33 or 3D bio-print biomolecules and cells. 34 Following the development of APPJ-based biomedical technologies, safe and controlled plasma treatment is required when operating with biomaterials.…”

Conductive Polymeric-Based Electroactive Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering Applications: Current Progress and Challenges from Biomaterials and Manufacturing Perspectives

“…Surface roughness was also enhanced, which made the scaffold more suitable for supporting cell proliferation, as was confirmed during the in vitro testing. Similar one-step process of plasma treatment and printing was recently reported by Cámara-Torres et al, who uses hybrid platform to combine plasma jet with melt extrusion [ 86 ]. (3-aminopropyl)trimethoxysilane (APTMS) was used as a monomer for plasma polymerization on top of the printed fibers to deposit positively charged amine group.…”

“…To promote hydrophilicity, there are two general approaches that can be used. The first approach is to deposit hydrophilic functional groups to the CP, which can be done either by grafting and creating a copolymer [ 85 ] or surface coating which can be achieved by substrate growing or by surface treatments such as plasma treatment [ 86 ]. Dopamine (DA)—which contains various functional groups including amine, imine, and catechol—can be used as universal anchor for surface modification, as was demonstrated by Tan et al in their study for the development of DA-modified PANI [ 85 ].…”

Plasma Electroless Reduction: A Green Process for Designing Metallic Nanostructure Interfaces onto Polymeric Surfaces and 3D Scaffolds

“…The solution for this problem is to use an atmospheric-pressure plasma jet (APPJ), where plasma can be generated at room temperature in the form of a jet, which could be applied to any complex 3D printed materials to homogeneously modify the surface. 24 Hence, in our future studies, we plan to extend our low-pressure PER process to APPJ, where the surface of more complex 3D printed scaffolds can be functionalized more uniformly.…”