Abstract
A wettability chemogradient on poly(L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) films was prepared by treating the films in air with corona from a knife-type electrode whose power increases gradually along the sample length. The PLGA surfaces oxidized gradually with the increasing corona power, and the wettability chemogradient was created on the surfaces as evidenced by the measurement of water contact angles and electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis. The wettability chemogradient PLGA surfaces were used to investigate the interaction of four different types of cells such as hepatoma (Hep G2), osteoblast (MG 63), bovine aortic endothelial (CPAE), and fibroblast (NIH/3T3) cells in terms of the surface hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity of PLGA. The cells adhered and grown on the chemogradient surface along the sample length were counted and observed by scanning electron microscopy. It was observed that the cells were adhered, spread, and grown more onto the positions with moderate hydrophilicity of the wettability chemogradient PLGA surface than the more hydrophobic or hydrophillic positions, regardless of the cell types used. The maximum adhesion and growth of the cells appeared at around water contact angles of 53～55°. This result seems closely related with the serum protein adsorption on the surface; the serum proteins were also adsorbed more onto the positions with moderate hydrophilicity of the wettability chemogradient surface. It seems that the wettability plays important roles for cell adhesion, spreading and growth on the PLGA surface. The surface modification technique used in this study may be applicable tothe area of tissue engineering for the improvement of tissue compatibility of films- or scaffold-type substrates.
