The capacity of cells to adapt to different physicochemical environments and external signals is gaining much of scientific attention from advanced materials perspective and modulation of cellular response. To this end, chemical, thermal, mechanical, electrical and magnetic stimuli, individually or combined, are being continuously explored to modulate cell functions in a controlled manner. For instance, the behaviour of mammalian cells may be affected by certain mechanical cues to induce the so called mechanotransduction, in which cells are able to sense the forces and translate them into desired biochemical and biological responses. In a related, but scarcely investigated approach, a controlled shear mechanical stress has been reported to beneficially affect bacterial cell adhesion and proliferation, improving their capacity to infect the host. Conversely, different intensities of electrical and magnetic fields may induce bacteria cell death through a mechanism that involve cell membrane disruption. Through this work, it is aimed to investigate how the application of controlled electrical and/or magnetic microenvironments may affect differently the behaviour of mammalian and bacterial cells. The strategy is based on the development of magnetoelectric materials responsive to a magnetic stimuli, that controllably promotes the proliferation or inhibition of cells growth. The developed scaffolds are nanocomposites comprising a piezoelectric polymer - poly(vinylidene) - and magnetostrictive CoFe2O4 nanoparticles (NPs). These magnetoelectric scaffolds react to the magnetic field provided by the magnetic bioreactor by providing an electrical polarization variation in the piezoelectric phase of the composite. Changing the conditions by which the stimuli are given, as well as the structure of the magnetoelectric material, the behaviour of mammalian and bacterial cells are tailored. The proper conditions have been outlined for stimulation of bone tissue regeneration, and for the development of antimicrobial or promicrobial surfaces. In the former approach, bone-mimicking porous 3D scaffolds and electrospun membranes were developed and subjected to a magnetic stimuli for efficient proliferation of osteoblasts, while during the latter thin films were fabricated as suitable matrices for both proliferation and inhibition of a gram-positive Staphylococcus epidermidis and gram-negative Eschericha coli bacteria.

Electrically and magnetically active polymer composites for tailoring mammalian and bacterial cell response

2019 Spring National Meeting

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