“Fuzzy hair” promotes cell sheet detachment from thermoresponsive brushes already above their volume phase transition temperature

verfasst von

Daniel David Stöbener, Marie Weinhart

Abstract

Thermoresponsive poly(glycidyl ether) (PGE) brushes have shown to be viable substrates for the culture and temperature-triggered detachment of confluent cell sheets. Surface-tethered PGEs with a cloud point temperature (TCP) around ~30 °C exhibit phase transitions well-centered within the physiological range (20–37 °C), which makes them ideal candidates for cell sheet fabrication. However, PGEs with TCPs at ~20 °C also afford the detachment of various types of cell sheets, even at room temperature (20–23 °C), i.e., above the polymers' TCPs. In this study, we investigate the phase transition of PGE brushes tethered to polystyrene (PS) culture substrates with varying grafting density and TCP to arrive at a mechanistic understanding of their functionality in cell sheet fabrication. Using quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) monitoring, we demonstrate that brushes fabricated from PGEs with TCPs at ~20 °C display volume phase transition temperatures (VPTTs) well below room temperature. Although the investigated coatings obviously do not exhibit marked thermal switching in terms of brush hydration and layer thickness, their physical properties at the brush-water interface, as ascertained by QCM-D and AFM measurements, undergo subtle changes upon cooling from 37 °C to room temperature which is sufficient to promote cell sheet detachment. Thus, it appears that discreet rehydration of the outmost brush layer, resembling “fuzzy hair” at the brush-water interface, renders the surfaces less protein- and cell-adhesive at room temperature. This minor structural change of the interface allows for the reliable detachment of human dermal fibroblast sheets already at 20 °C well above the VPTT of the brushes.

Organisationseinheit(en)

Institut für Physikalische Chemie und Elektrochemie

Externe Organisation(en)

Freie Universität Berlin (FU Berlin)

Typ

Artikel

Journal

Biomaterials Advances

Band

141

ISSN

2772-9508

Publikationsdatum

10.2022

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Allgemeine Chemie

Fachgebiet (basierend auf ÖFOS 2012)

Makromolekulare Chemie, Materialchemie, Oberflächenchemie

Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung

SDG 3 – Gute Gesundheit und Wohlergehen

Elektronische Version(en)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bioadv.2022.213101 (Zugang: Geschlossen)