An atmospheric pressure plasma jet to tune the bioactive peptide coupling to polycaprolactone electrospun layers

• Published in: Applied surface science 2020-03, Vol.507, p.144713, Article 144713
• Main Authors: Maffei, Alessandro, Michieli, Niccoló, Brun, Paola, Zamuner, Annj, Zaggia, Alessandro, Roso, Martina, Kalinic, Boris, Verga Falzacappa, Emanuele, Scopece, Paolo, Gross, Silvia, Dettin, Monica, Patelli, Alessandro
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adhesive peptide; Atmospheric pressure plasma; Electrospun fibers; Gradients
• ISSN: 0169-4332; 1873-5584
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2019.144713

[Display omitted] •The atmospheric pressure plasma jet process was able to coat PCL electrospun fibers•Different surface coverages just by changing the number of scans were achieved•The deposited coating allowed the covalent binding of the Human Vitronectin peptide•A tuning of Human Vitronectin peptide density by a factor of 3 was demonstrated•The human osteoblasts adhesion assays reflected the peptide concentration trend The surface chemistry of scaffolds for tissue regeneration can guide cells growth. In this study, we present a novel method to functionalize electrospun Polycaprolactone (PCL) scaffolds allowing the tuning of biomolecule superficial concentration by varying only one process parameter. The method is based on the deposition of NH2 functional groups starting form (3-Aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTES) as precursor by a novel Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Jet (APPJ) and by a successive selective covalent linking of these amines with a synthetic Human Vitronectin adhesive cue (HVP). The addition, in the peptide C-terminus, of an aldehyde group ensures the selective ligation by alkylimino-de-oxo-bisubstitution between the primary amine and HVP. By this method, we managed to alter the HVP surface concentration just varying the deposition time of the plasma process; this resulted in different surface coverage of the plasma coating, which in turn led to diverse amount of linked HVP. Coating stability, morphology and coverage was assessed by infrared and photo-electron spectroscopies and by electron microscopy. As a function of the coverage a variation on peptide concentration was revealed by Total Nitrogen method and confirmed by biological assays, which demonstrated an increase of human osteoblasts viability as a function of peptide concentration.