Biofunctionalized 3-D Carbon Nano-Network Platform for Enhanced Fibroblast Cell Adhesion

Abstract

Carbon nanomaterials have been investigated for various biomedical applications. In most cases, however, these nanomaterials must be functionalized biologically or chemically due to their biological inertness or possible cytotoxicity. Here, we report the development of a new carbon nanomaterial with a bioactive phase that significantly promotes cell adhesion. We synthesize the bioactive phase by introducing self-assembled nanotopography and altered nano-chemistry to graphite substrates using ultrafast laser. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that such a cytophilic bio-carbon is developed in a single step without requiring subsequent biological/chemical treatments. By controlling the nano-network concentration and chemistry, we develop platforms with different degrees of cell cytophilicity. We study quantitatively and qualitatively the cell response to nano-network platforms with NIH-3T3 fibroblasts. The findings from the in vitro study indicate that the platforms possess excellent biocompatibility and promote cell adhesion considerably. The study of the cell morphology shows a healthy attachment of cells with a well-spread shape, overextended actin filaments, and morphological symmetry, which is indicative of a high cellular interaction with the nano-network. The developed nanomaterial possesses great biocompatibility and considerably stimulates cell adhesion and subsequent cell proliferation, thus offering a promising path toward engineering various biomedical devices.

Bio-Inspired Nanostructured Ti-6Al-4V Alloy: The Role of Two Alkaline Etchants and the Hydrothermal Processing Duration on Antibacterial Activity

“…The HDF cells incubated on the AR-Ti surface exhibited polarised phenotype manifested by an elongate cell body ( Figure 9 A), whereas the cells incubated on NaOH-4h and KOH-5h surfaces were somewhat less polarised, with cells showing spreading upon the surfaces due to the interaction with the nanostructures [ 58 ]. This suggests the HDF cells incubated on these surfaces exhibit strong adhesion [ 59 ]. Cell viability determined via the resazurin method is shown in Figure 9 C. The HTE-treated surface did not cause any cytotoxicity as the viability of the cells was 84.6 ± 16.4% on the NaOH-4h and 87.5 ± 16.9 on the KOH-5h, compared to the AR-Ti 82.1 ± 7.5%, p > 0.05 ( Table S3 ).…”

Hierarchically Porous Carbon Materials from Self-Assembled Block Copolymer/Dopamine Mixtures

“…Hierarchically porous materials possess three different scales of pores, such as micropores (<2 nm), mesopores (2–50 nm), and macropores (>50 nm). Combination of the three different pore regimes enables materials with high mass transport through macropores, with a high specific surface area from micropores and with abundant reaction sites for guest molecules from mesopores. − As such hierarchically porous structures have surface heteroatomic dopants, they can serve a wide range of potential applications such as catalytic nanomaterials, − energy conversion and storage, − CO 2 sorbents, and molecular sensing. − …”

The Influence of Surface Wettability and Topography on the Bioactivity of TiO2/Epoxy Coatings on AISI 316L Stainless Steel

“…The cell morphology was analysed in order to understand the cells’ response to the coating. Flattened and well-spread polygonal cells with extended filopodia represent the normal morphology of healthy, well-adhered cells with a high cellular interaction with the substrate compared to the smaller, round-shaped morphology of the non-proliferating/apoptotic-like cells, indicating poor adhesion [24,25].…”