Enhancement of cell growth on honeycomb-structured polylactide surface using atmospheric-pressure plasma jet modification

Atmospheric-pressure plasma enhances cell growth on two different pore sizes of honeycomb pattern on polylactide surface. [Display omitted] •Different pore sizes of honeycomb pattern on PLA film are created.•The two-step plasma treatment provided the oxygen- and nitrogen-containing functional groups that had a major impact on cell cultivation.•The plasma treatment had a significant effect for cell proliferation.•The surface structures are the main influence on cell cultivation, while plasma treatment can indeed improve the growth environment. In this paper, we compare the cell growth results of NIH-3T3 and Neuro-2A cells over 72h on flat and honeycomb structured PLA films without and with a two-step atmospheric-pressure nitrogen-based plasma jet treatment. We developed a fabrication system used for forming of a uniform honeycomb structure on PLA surface, which can produce two different pore sizes, 3–4μm and 7–8μm, of honeycomb pattern. We applied a previously developed nitrogen-based atmospheric-pressure dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) jet system to treat the PLA film without and with honeycomb structure. NIH-3T3 and a much smaller Neuro-2A cells were cultivated on the films under various surface conditions. The results show that the two-step plasma treatment in combination with a honeycomb structure can enhance cell growth on PLA film, should the cell size be not too smaller than the pore size of honeycomb structure, e.g., NIH-3T3. Otherwise, cell growth would be better on flat PLA film, e.g., Neuro-2A.