Origin of Enhanced Stem Cell Growth and Differentiation on Graphene and Graphene Oxide

Abstract

The culture of bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), as well as the control of its differentiation toward different tissue lineage, is a very important part of tissue engineering, where cells are combined with artificial scaffold to regenerate tissues. Graphene (G) and graphene oxide (GO) sheets are soft membranes with high in-plane stiffness and can potentially serve as a biocompatible, transferable, and implantable platform for stem cell culture. While the healthy proliferation of stem cells on various carbon platforms has been demonstrated, the chemical role of G and GO, if any, in guiding uncommitted stem cells toward differentiated cells is not known. Herein, we report that the strong noncovalent binding abilities of G allow it to act as a preconcentration platform for osteogenic inducers, which accelerate MSCs growing on it toward the osteogenic lineage. The molecular origin of accelerated differentation is investigated by studying the binding abilities of G and GO toward different growth agents. Interestingly, differentiation to adipocytes is greatly suppressed on G because insulin, which is a key regulator for the synthesis of fatty acids, is denatured upon π-π adsorption on G; in contrast, GO does not interfere with adipogenesis due to electrostatic binding with insulin. The different binding interactions and their subsequent influence on stem cell growth and differentiation are ascribed to different degrees of π-π stacking and electrostatic and hydrogen bonding mediated by G and GO.

Environmental applications using graphene composites: water remediation and gas adsorption

“…Multiple recent studies have focused on the use of graphene and graphene composites in biomedical applications. 133,[228][229][230][231] From these studies, as well as other cytotoxicity studies on graphene and related compounds, 69,232-251 we are able to draw some conclusions regarding graphene's biological toxicity.…”

“…230 Additional studies have shown that graphene can also be used as a scaffold for human colorectal adenocarcinoma HT-29 cells 251 and human stem cells. 229,231 Mammalian in vivo studies of the toxicity of graphene compounds have been conducted in mice. [243][244][245] In a report by Zhan et al they showed that graphene oxide displays negligible pathological toxicity in most organs, however toxicity in the lungs was observed due to the accumulation and slow clearance of the graphene oxide in the body.…”

Incorporation of Conductive Materials into Hydrogels for Tissue Engineering Applications

“…Lee et al showed that graphene film improved MSC proliferation and differentiation when compared to a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) film. The graphene film acts as a reserve platform for bone formation inducers and advances the growth of MSCs in the osteogenic lineage because of their strong non-covalent binding [99]. However, adjacent graphene sheets can interfere with applications [100] because of the serious aggregation owing to pi-pi interactions and cytotoxicity.…”

Graphene and graphene oxide as nanomaterials for medicine and biology application

“…Graphene-based materials are used in the field of bone repair or organ regeneration. Both GO and rGO are utilized in osteogenic stem cells to study [28][29][30] chondrogenesis [31], adipogenesis [32], epithelial genesis [32], myogenesis, cardiomyogenesis [33,34] and neurogenesis [35].…”