Effect of substrate storage conditions on the stability of “Smart” films used for mammalian cell applications

Citation

Bluestein, B. M.; Reed, J. A.; & Canavan, H. E. (2017). Effect of substrate storage conditions on the stability of "Smart" films used for mammalian cell applications. Applied Surface Science, 392, 950-959.

Abstract

When poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) (pNIPAM) is tethered to a surface, it can induce the spontaneous release of a sheet of mammalian cells. The release of cells is a result of the reversible phase transition the polymer undergoes at its lower critical solution temperature (LCST). Many techniques are used for the deposition of pNIPAM onto cell culture substrates. Previously, we compared two methods of deposition (plasma polymerization, and co-deposition with a sot-gel). We proved that although both were technically appropriate for obtaining thermoresponsive pNIPAM films, the surfaces that were co-deposited with a sol-gel caused some disruption in cell activity. The variation of cell behavior could be due to the delamination of pNIPAM films leaching toxic chemicals into solution. In this work, we assessed the stability of these pNIPAM films by manipulating the storage conditions and analyzing the surface chemistry using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and contact angle measurements over the amount of time required to obtain confluent cell sheets. From XPS, we demonstrated that ppNIPAM (plasma polymerized NIPAM) films remains stable across all storage conditions while sol-gel deposition show large deviations after 48 h of storage. Cell response of the deposited films was assessed by investigating the cytotoxicity and biocompatibility. The 37 degrees C and high humidity storage affects sol-gel deposited films, inhibiting normal cell growth and proper thermoresponse of the film. Surface chemistry, thermoresponse and cell growth remained similar for all ppNIPAM surfaces, indicating these substrates are more appropriate for mammalian cell culture applications. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Keyword(s)

cardiomyocyte sheets
drug-delivery
esca
extracellular-matrix
glaucoma therapy
Isopropyl acrylamide
Mammalian cells
molecular-weight
n-isopropylacrylamide
pNIPAM
poly(n-isopropylacrylamide)
surface
thermoresponsive polymer
thermosensitive polymers
xps

Notes

Ed7yj
Times Cited:1
Cited References Count:52

Reference Type

Journal Article

Secondary Title

Applied Surface Science

Author(s)

Bluestein, B. M.
Reed, J. A.
Canavan, H. E.

Year Published

2017

Date Published

1736899200

Volume Number

392

Pages

950-959

DOI

10.1016/j.apsusc.2016.07.004