ESTIMATION OF CELL PROLIFERATION BY VARIOUS PEPTIDE COATING AT THE PPF/DEF 3D SCAFFOLD

Abstract

Surface properties play important roles in determining the initial response of living cells to a biomaterial, as well as in controlling cellular events. However, developing a biomaterial having good mechanical properties that also possesses suitable surface properties for biomedical applications is difficult. Poly (propylene fumarate) (PPF)-based materials are good candidates for bone regeneration due to their nontoxic biodegradable products and excellent mechanical properties. Their surface properties, however, including hydrophobicity, are disadvantageous. Therefore, we tried to immobilize peptides on a three-dimensional (3D) scaffold of PPF-based materials. And because conventional scaffold fabrication methods cannot realize the standardized 3D environment, we used micro-stereolithography (MSTL), which has the highest resolution among solid free-form fabrication (SFF) technologies that can produce scaffolds as designed. in this study, we successfully fabricated scaffolds that possess regular pores and line structures using MSTL and PPF-based materials. We estimated the cell adhesion and proliferation with various peptides in a standardized 3D scaffold environment. We found that a scaffold functionalized with a mixture of RGD and KRSR enhanced osteoblast adhesion and proliferation compared to scaffolds with RGD or KRSR alone. Our results indicate the usefulness of the surface modification of the synthetic polymer PPF/DEF with peptide mixtures. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.