The adhesion of human cells is a key aspect of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine and polymer scaffolds play important roles in both areas.  However, scaffolds for tissue engineering must have other properties: such as controlled stiffness, strength and rate of degradation. Often the optimization of the interfacial region for cell adhesion adversely effects the other, mainly mechanical, properties. Therefore, developing technologies for modifying interfaces to control their cell adhesion and subsequent cell spreading properties is a useful enabling strategy. In this work we synthesized both telechelic poly(butyl methacrylate) (PBMA) with either carboxylic acid (PBMA+2COOH) or primary amine  end groups (PBMA+2NH2). Also we prepared highly branched PBMA with COOH (HB-PBMA-COOH) end groups. Then we examined the performance of coatings made from these polymers as substrates for cell culture. PBMA+2COOH (Mn=19,000 g mol.-1) was prepared by ozonolysis and oxidative work up of a poly(butyl methacrylate-co-butadiene) latex.  In a next step PBMAs with amine end groups (PBMA+2NH2) were prepared by reacting the PBMA+2COOH with a range of dialkyl amines. Also, highly branched PBMA with carboxylic acid end groups was prepared by self-condensing RAFT polymerization.  Coatings of these materials on coverslips showed that both the moderate molar mass PBMA+2COOH and the HB-PBMA-COOH provided excellent subtrates for the culture of human dermal fibroblasts where as these cells were rounded and not well-adhered to the PBMA+2NH2.

Cell adhesion to coatings derived from poly(butyl methacrylate)s

244th National Meeting (2012)

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