We investigated the suitability of ferric-ion-cross-linked alginates (Fe-alginate) with various proportions of L-guluronic acid (G) and D-mannuronic acid (M) residues as a culture substrate for human dermal fibroblasts. High-G and high-M Fe-alginate gels showed comparable efficacy in promoting initial cell adhesion and similar protein adsorption capacities, but superior cell proliferation was observed on high-G than on high-M Fe-alginate as culture time progressed. During immersion in culture medium, high-G Fe-alginate showed little change in gel properties in terms of swelling and polymer content, but the properties of high-M Fe-alginate gel were altered due to loss of ion cross-linking. However, the degree of cell proliferation on high-M Fe-alginate gel was improved after it had been stabilized by immersion in culture medium until no further changes occurred. These results suggest that the mode of cross-linkage between ferric ions and alginate differs depending on alginate composition and that the major factor giving rise to differences in cell growth on the two types of Fe-alginate films is gel stability during culture, rather than swelling of the original gel, polymer content, or protein adsorption ability. Our findings may be useful for extending the application of Fe-alginate to diverse biomedical fields.

In this study we investigated differences in the characteristics determining the suitability of five types of ion (Fe(3+), Al(3+), Ca(2+), Ba(2+) and Sr(2+))-cross-linked alginate films as culture substrates for cells. Human dermal fibroblasts were cultured on each alginate film to examine the cell affinity of the alginates. Since cell behavior on the surface of a material is dependent on the proteins adsorbed to it, we investigated the protein adsorption ability and surface features (wettability, morphology and charge) related to the protein adsorption abilities of alginate films. We observed that ferric, aluminum and barium ion-cross-linked alginate films supported better cell growth and adsorbed higher amounts of serum proteins than other types. Surface wettability analysis demonstrated that ferric and aluminum ion-cross-linked alginates had moderate hydrophilic surfaces, while other types showed highly hydrophilic surfaces. The roughness was exhibited only on barium ion-cross-linked alginate surface. Surface charge measurements revealed that alginate films had negatively charged surfaces, and showed little difference among the five types of gel. These results indicate that the critical factors of ionically cross-linked alginate films determining the protein adsorption ability required for their cell compatibility may be surface wettability and morphology.

We investigated the efficacy of three-dimensional porous ferric-ion-cross-linked alginate (Fe-alginate) gels as cell scaffolds, in comparison with calcium-ion-cross-linked alginate (Ca-alginate) gels. In a previous study, we had demonstrated that twodimensional Fe-alginate film was an efficient material for use as a scaffold, allowing good cell adhesion and proliferation, unlike Caalginate film. In the present study, we fabricated three-dimensional porous Fe-and Ca-alginate gels by freeze-drying and evaluated their effects on cultured cells. The Fe-alginate gels showed higher protein adsorption ability than Ca-alginate gels. Cells formed multicellular spheroids in both types of alginate scaffold, but the number of cultured cells increased with culture time on Fealginate porous gels, whereas those on Ca-alginate gels did not. Moreover, it was revealed that the cells on Fe-alginate scaffolds were still viable inside the multicellular spheroids even after cultivation for 14 days. These results suggest that Fe-alginate provides a superior porous scaffold suitable for three-dimensional culture of cells. Our findings may be useful for extending the application of Fe-alginate to diverse biomedical fields.