Development of Electroactive and Elastic Nanofibers that contain Polyaniline and Poly(L-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone) for the Control of Cell Adhesion

• Published in: Macromolecular bioscience 2008-07, Vol.8 (7), p.627-637
• Main Authors: Jeong, Sung In, Jun, In Dong, Choi, Moon Jae, Nho, Young Chang, Lee, Young Moo, Shin, Heungsoo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aniline Compounds - chemistry; Aniline Compounds - pharmacology; Animals; Applied sciences; Biological and medical sciences; Cell Adhesion - drug effects; conducting polymers; Electrochemistry - methods; electrospinning; Exact sciences and technology; Fibers and threads; Forms of application and semi-finished materials; Humans; Medical sciences; Mice; nanofibers; Nanostructures - chemistry; Nanostructures - ultrastructure; NIH 3T3 Cells; poly(L-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone); polyaniline; Polyesters - chemistry; Polyesters - pharmacology; Polymer industry, paints, wood; Surgery (general aspects). Transplantations, organ and tissue grafts. Graft diseases; Technology of polymers; Technology. Biomaterials. Equipments
• ISSN: 1616-5187; 1616-5195
• DOI: 10.1002/mabi.200800005

In this work, electrically conductive polyaniline (PAni) doped with camphorsulfonic acid (CPSA) is blended with poly(L‐lactide‐co‐ε‐caprolactone) (PLCL), and then electrospun to prepare uniform nanofibers. The CPSA‐PAni/PLCL nanofibers show a smooth fiber structure without coarse lumps or beads and consistent fiber diameters (which range from 100 to 700 nm) even with an increase in the amount of CPSA‐PAni (from 0 to 30 wt.‐%). However, the elongation at break decreases from 391.54 ± 9.20% to 207.85 ± 6.74% when 30% of CPSA‐PAni is incorporated. Analysis of the surface of the nanofibers demonstrates the presence of homogeneously blended CPSA‐PAni. Most importantly, a four‐point probe analysis reveals that electrical properties are maintained in the nanofibers where the conductivity is significantly increased from 0.0015 to 0.0138 S · cm−1 when the nanofibers are prepared with 30% CPSA‐PAni. The cell adhesion tests using human dermal fibroblasts, NIH‐3T3 fibroblasts, and C2C12 myoblasts demonstrate significantly higher adhesion on the CPSA‐PAni/PLCL nanofibers than pure PLCL nanofibers. In addition, the growth of NIH‐3T3 fibroblasts is enhanced under the stimulation of various direct current flows. The CPSA‐PAni/PLCL nanofibers with electrically conductive properties may potentially be used as a platform substrate to study the effect of electrical signals on cell activities and to direct desirable cell function for tissue engineering applications.