Electrospun fiber membranes enable proliferation of genetically modified cells

Abstract

Polycaprolactone (PCL) and its blended composites (chitosan, gelatin, and lecithin) are well-established biomaterials that can enrich cell growth and enable tissue engineering. However, their application in the recovery and proliferation of genetically modified cells has not been studied. In the study reported here, we fabricated PCL-biomaterial blended fiber membranes, characterized them using physicochemical techniques, and used them as templates for the growth of genetically modified HCT116-19 colon cancer cells. Our data show that the blended polymers are highly miscible and form homogenous electrospun fiber membranes of uniform texture. The aligned PCL nanofibers support robust cell growth, yielding a 2.5-fold higher proliferation rate than cells plated on standard plastic plate surfaces. PCL-lecithin fiber membranes yielded a 2.7-fold higher rate of proliferation, while PCL-chitosan supported a more modest growth rate (1.5-fold higher). Surprisingly, PCL-gelatin did not enhance cell proliferation when compared to the rate of cell growth on plastic surfaces.

Electrospun Fibers and Sorbents as a Possible Basis for Effective Composite Wound Dressings

“…As mentioned before, PCL have been reported as a low bioactive polymer [63]. Despite that, cell growth found for fibroblast exposed to pure PCL scaffolds is in accordance with growth promotion provoked by this polymer in other cells [88]. Some evidence of cell growth promotion is given for pure PCL, for example, it was reported that the proliferation rate of the PCL exposed HDF fibroblasts is higher than the normal growth tested after 3 days [89], moreover Safaeijavan et al [90] reported an increased proliferation of human fibroblast after been exposed to PCL electrospun scaffolds at 1-6 days.…”

“…For that, the authors performed a cytotoxicity assay exposing NCTC clone 929 cells to PVP fragments and performed an irritability test by contact in New Zealand rabbits. They concluded that assessed polymeric materials did not present a toxic effect, demonstrating that these biomaterials can be used for the treatments of wounds in the form of advanced bandages or drug immobilization systems as transdermal therapeutic systems [88].…”

“…Two Gram-negative bacteria such as Pseudomona aeruginosa and Escherichia coli, and one Gram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus were chosen to test antibacterial bioactivity of the PCL/PVP fibers and sorbents. These bacterial strains were used because they can cause skin infection with severe damage, such as the case of Pseudomona aeruginosa [88,91], Escherichia coli can be isolated from surgical and traumatic wounds, foot ulcers and decubitus [92] and Staphylococcus aureus are related with skin and soft tissue infections in ambulatory care [93]. For antifungal bioactivity, Candida albicans was chosen because diverse fungal species commonly colonize the human skin.…”

Development of double porous poly (ε - caprolactone)/chitosan polymer as tissue engineering scaffold

“…Thus, the variation of the melting point of P CL in the blend was monitored by varying the composition of CHT. Unlike other reported data [21,31,32,35], we found that by increasing CHT wt%, T m of the blend increased [51] except PCL/CHT 70/30.…”

“…Apart from the characteristic peaks of P CL and CHT, some other intense peaks were also detected due to the formation of different type of crystals with different D spacing within the crystal lattice [51]. Those gave an overall crystalline behaviour to the blend.…”