Biological performance of electrospun polymer fibres

Abstract

The evaluation of biological responses to polymeric scaffolds are important, given that the ideal scaffold should be biocompatible, biodegradable, promote cell adhesion and aid cell proliferation. The primary goal of this research was to measure the biological responses of cells against various polymeric and collagen electrospun scaffolds (polycaprolactone (PCL) and polylactic acid (PLA) polymers: PCL-drug, PCL-collagen-drug, PLA-drug and PLA-collagen-drug); cell proliferation was measured with a cell adhesion assay and cell viability using 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU) and resazurin assays. The results demonstrated that there is a distinct lack of growth of cells against any irgasan (IRG) loaded scaffolds and far greater adhesion of cells against levofloxacin (LEVO) loaded scaffolds. Fourteen-day studies revealed a significant increase in cell growth after a 7-day period. The addition of collagen in the formulations did not promote greater cell adhesion. Cell viability studies revealed the levels of IRG used in scaffolds were toxic to cells, with the concentration used 475 times higher than the EC 50 value for IRG. It was concluded that the negatively charged carboxylic acid group found in LEVO is attracting positively charged fibronectin, which in turn is attracting the cell to adhere to the adsorbed proteins on the surface of the scaffold. Overall, the biological studies examined in this paper are valuable as preliminary data for potential further studies into more complex aspects of cell behaviour with polymeric scaffolds.