Surface properties, such as surface chemistry and topography, affect cell�biomaterial interactions potentially guiding cellular behavior and proliferation.1 Synthetic polymer brushes have been used to tailor the surface properties by altering the grafted polymer molecular characteristics.In this study, well-defined glycopolymer brushes of high grafting densities based on D-gluconamidoethyl methacrylate (GAMA) and 2-lactobionamidoethyl methacrylate (LAMA), featuring a glucose and lactose functionality, respectively have been synthesized from initiator-modified substrates by direct surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization.2 The polymer film characteristics were investigated by attenuated total reflectance-FTIR spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, ellipsometry and contact angle measurements. Brushes of different film thicknesses were prepared by varying the polymerization time.The glycosurfaces were employed in tissue engineering applications. We have investigated the adhesion and viability of MC3T3 pre-osteoblast cells on the PGAMA and PLAMA glycopolymer brushes. Cell attachment, morphology and cytoskeleton organization was observed by scanning electron microscopy and confocal fluorescence microscopy. Cell proliferation was measured using a resazurin-based assay. A marked preference of the MC3T3 cells for the PGAMA substrates was observed, which supported good cell viability and growth. On the other hand, cell proliferation on a 4 nm PGAMA brush was higher (92% of the PS control) than on the 9 nm brush (63%). Moreover, cells cultured on the 4 nm brush displayed enhanced cell spreading compared to cells on thicker brushes, on which cells displayed a spindled and elongated morphology. In summary, our results suggest that the novel glycopolymer brushes possess cell-recognition capabilities which are dependent on the polymer characteristics. Current work focuses on the exploration of the surfaces on pre-osteoblastic cell differentiation to control cell function.1. E. A. dos Santos, M. Farina, G. A. Soares, K. Anselme J. Biomed. Mater. Res. A 2009,  89,510.2. A. Mateescu, J. Ye, R. Narain, M. Vamvakaki Soft Matter 2009,  5, 1621.

Glycopolymer surfaces for tissue engineering

248th National Meeting (2014)

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