Adhesion and growth of HUVEC endothelial cells on films of enzymatically functionalized chitosan with phenolic compounds

•Enzymatic grafting of ferulic acid or ethyl ferulate on chitosan increased chitosan derivative films hydrophobicity.•Protein adsorption properties were improved on chitosan derivative films.•Chitosan derivative films presented higher HUVEC cell adhesion and growth than that on chitosan films. Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cell (HUVEC) growth on chitosan films and its enzymatically functionalized derivatives films with ferulic acid (FA) and ethyl ferulate (EF) was assessed by evaluating cell adhesion, morphology and cell viability. The results indicated that chitosan derivative films improved protein adsorption properties compared to chitosan films. The HUVEC cell morphology showed well attachment and spread phenotype on chitosan derivative films compared to those growing on chitosan films which did not spread and remained round. Evaluation of cell viability revealed improvement of cell adhesion on chitosan derivative films compared to chitosan film depending on the quantity of oxidized phenols grafted on chitosan. In addition, FA-/EF-chitosan films allowed almost similar cell adhesion. Furthermore, cell adhesion was increased with the film thickness. These results suggested that the oxidized phenols grafting on chitosan is a promising process to enhance cell adhesion, growth and creating useful functional biomaterials.