Fibronectin adsorption and cell response on electroactive poly (vinylidene fluoride) films

Due to the large potential of electroactive materials in novel tissue engineering strategies, the aim of this work is to determine if the crystalline phase and/or the surface electrical charge of electroactive poly(vinylidene fluoride), PVDF, have influence on the biological response in monolayer cell culture. Non-polar α-PVDF and electroactive β-PVDF were prepared. The β-PVDF films were poled by corona discharge to show negative or positive electrical surface charge density. It has been concluded that hydrophilicity of the PVDF substrates depends significantly on crystalline phase and polarity. Furthermore, by means of atomic force microscopy and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay test, it has been shown that positive or negative poling strongly influences the behavior of β-PVDF supports with respect to fibronectin (FN) adsorption, varying the exhibition of adhesion ligands of adsorbed FN. Culture of MC3T3-E1 pre-osteoeblasts proved that cell proliferation depends on surface polarity as well. These results open the viability of cell culture stimulation by mechanical deformation of a piezoelectric substrate that results in varying electrical charge densities on the substrate surface. This work is funded by FEDER funds through the 'Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade-COMPETE' and by national funds by FCT-Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, project reference NANO/NMed-SD/0156/2007. CR thanks the INL for a PhD grant. VS and JAP thank the FCT for the SFRH/BPD/63148/2009 and SFRH/BD/64586/2009/grants, respectively. JLGR acknowledges the support of the Spanish Ministry of Education through project no MAT2010-21611-C03-01 (including the FEDER financial support), project EUI2008-00126 and funding in the Centro de Investigacion Principe Felipe in the field of Regenerative Medicine through the collaboration agreement from the Conselleria de Sanidad (Generalitat Valenciana) and the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Ministry of Science and Innovation). The authors thank Armando Ferreira for the help with the contact angle measurements and CENTI, Portugal, for allowing the use of the set-up. Ribeiro, C.; Panadero Pérez, JA.; Sencadas, VJGDS.; Lanceros Mendez, S.; Tamaño Machiavello, MN.; Moratal Pérez, D.; Salmerón Sánchez, M... (2012). Fibronectin adsorption and cell response on electroactive poly (vinylidene fluoride) films. Biomedical Materials. 7(3):35004-35014. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-6041/7/3/035004 Shard, A. G., & Tomlins, P. E. (2006). Bioc