The thickness of poly‐phenoxyethyl methacrylate brush interferes with cellular behavior and function of myofibers

Abstract

Introducing or grafting molecules onto biomaterial surfaces to regulate muscle cell destination via biophysical cues is one of the important steps for biomaterial design in muscle tissue engineering. Therefore, it is important to understand the interaction between myoblasts and myofibers with substrates modified by biomimetic layer with different thicknesses. In this study, we used a surface‐induced atom transfer radical polymerization method to synthetize and graft poly‐phenoxyethyl methacrylate (PHEMA) brushes having different lengths on the glass substrates. C2C12 myoblasts were seeded on the PHEMA brushes and differentiated using horse serum, for analyzing the sensibility of muscle cells to feel environment changing, and further investigating whether the depths of grafting layer on the biomaterial surface are important factors in regulating muscle cell behaviors. Our results demonstrated that on the thicker PHEMA brushes surface (200 and 450 nm), C2C12 myoblasts showed a better survival and proliferation and were favorable for cell fusion and myotube formation. Furthermore, myofibers survived on the thicker brushes were more functional and upregulated cytoskeleton proteins (tubulin, vimentin, and vinculin) and FAK levels, and enhanced the expression levels for mechanical stress molecules (HGF, NOS‐1, and c‐Met). These results suggest that grafting thickness of PHEMA layer on the substrate led to the myoblasts/myofiber behavior change, which would be valuable for the design and preparation of the modified layer on muscle tissue engineering scaffolds. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 107A: 1264–1272, 2019.

Recent Advances in Hybrid Biomimetic Polymer-Based Films: from Assembly to Applications

“…PCBAA, however, has demonstrated a significant decrease in thickness, probably due to its high hydrosolubility compared to PHEMA and PHPMA, which means the more hydrophobic the polymer is, the higher stability the brush displays. Moreover, the thickness of PHEMA films has proved to play a role in the stability of the cellline, where higher film thicknesses provide a better cell environment [196]. PHEMA brushes have also displayed a strong protein resistant behavior: protein adsorption initially decreases with growing brush thickness and reaches a plateau above polymer brush thickness of 20 nm, followed by an increase in brushes with a thickness of 40-50 nm [195].…”

“…It is compatible with a wide range of monomers, and instead of using toxic metal catalysts, RAFT uses thiocarbonylthio compounds [200,201]. This polymerization method is based on a reversible regenerative chain transfer mechanism and allows to synthesize polymers with complex molecular architectures, low Moreover, the thickness of PHEMA films has proved to play a role in the stability of the cell-line, where higher film thicknesses provide a better cell environment [196]. PHEMA brushes have also displayed a strong protein resistant behavior: protein adsorption initially decreases with growing brush thickness and reaches a plateau above polymer brush thickness of 20 nm, followed by an increase in brushes with a thickness of 40-50 nm [195].…”