Compatibility of piezoelectric semicrystalline polymerand osteoblastic cells

Abstract

For the improvement of tissue regeneration,functional polymer scaffolds that can mimic the extracellularmatrix of human tissue are extremely desirable. Depending on thetissue that the scaffolds are intended to resemble, these scaffoldsmust satisfy highly precise requirements such as non-toxicity orfibrous structure. High piezoelectricity and hydrophilicity alsoproved to have convenient effects. Due to their innate capability tocreate surface charges under mechanical stress, piezoelectricmaterials such as polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) become excellentcandidates for creating functional scaffolds. It is desired for PVDFto also have hydrophilic properties. Otherwise, it could preventadequate cell adhesion and growth necessary for the constructionof biomimetic scaffolds. For this study, electrospinned PVDFnanofibers covered by human or mouse osteoblasts were subjectedto Raman spectroscopy, measurement of the contact angle of theliquid wettability on the sample surface to observe hydrophobicityand hydrophilicity, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) toassess properties of the material in relation to oxygen plasmatreatment.