QCM-D Study of Time-Resolved Cell Adhesion and Detachment: Effect of Surface Free Energy on Eukaryotes and Prokaryotes

Abstract

Cell–material interactions are crucial for many biomedical applications, including medical implants, tissue engineering, and biosensors. For implants, while the adhesion of eukaryotic host cells is desirable, bacterial adhesion often leads to infections. Surface free energy (SFE) is an important parameter that controls short- and long-term eukaryotic and prokaryotic cell adhesion. Understanding its effect at a fundamental level is essential for designing materials that minimize bacterial adhesion. Most cell adhesion studies for implants have focused on correlating surface wettability with mammalian cell adhesion and are restricted to short-term time scales. In this work, we used quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) and electrical impedance analysis to characterize the adhesion and detachment of S. cerevisiae and E. coli, serving as model eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells within extended time scales. Measurements were performed on surfaces displaying different surface energies (Au, SiO2, and silanized SiO2). Our results demonstrate that tuning the surface free energy of materials is a useful strategy for selectively promoting eukaryotic cell adhesion and preventing bacterial adhesion. Specifically, we show that under flow and steady-state conditions and within time scales up to ∼10 h, a high SFE, especially its polar component, enhances S. cerevisiae adhesion and hinders E. coli adhesion. In the long term, however, both cells tend to detach, but less detachment occurs on surfaces with a high dispersive SFE contribution. The conclusions on S. cerevisiae are also valid for a second eukaryotic cell type, being the human embryonic kidney (HEK) cells on which we performed the same analysis for comparison. Furthermore, each cell adhesion phase is associated with unique cytoskeletal viscoelastic states, which are cell-type-specific and surface free energy-dependent and provide insights into the underlying adhesion mechanisms.

Recent advance in surface modification for regulating cell adhesion and behaviors

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Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation Monitoring of Dynamic Viscoelastic Changes of Tobacco BY-2 Cells under Different Osmotic Conditions

“…The results demonstrated that tuning the surface free energy of materials is a useful strategy for selectively promoting eukaryotic cell adhesion and preventing bacterial adhesion [18] Oxidative stress on the viscoelastic properties of pre-osteoblast cells…”

Biosensors for rapid detection of Salmonella in food: A review

“…As a result, the adhered mass may not be determined accurately when only Δ f is measured. Therefore, quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM‐D) or resistance measurement will be more robust for biosensing of Salmonella because it can measure the changes in both frequency and energy dissipation (Δ D ) or motional resistance (Δ R ), corresponding to the changes in mass and viscoelastic properties of the adhered layer (Yongabi et al., 2020). Though Su and Li (2005a) reported a QCM biosensor for S .…”