title: Galactosylated poly(ε-caprolactone) membrane promoted liver-specific functions of HepG2 cells in vitro.
abstract: The lack of pendant functional groups on the PCL backbone has been a great challenge for surface bioactivation of poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL). In the present study, covalently galactosylated PCL (GPCL) was developed through coupling between the amino-functionalized PCL (NPCL) and the lactobionic acid (LA) and its potential application in maintenance of physiological functions of HepG2 cells was further evaluated. The structure and properties of GPCL were explored by (1)H NMR, FT-IR, GPC and DSC. Moreover, the incorporation of galactose ligands onto GPCL membranes not only promoted higher wettability, but also radically changed surface morphology in comparison with PCL and NPCL according to the contact angle measurement and atomic force microscopy. When HepG2 cells were seeded onto these membranes, the cells on GPCL membranes showed more pronounced cell adhesion and tended to form aggregates during the initial adhesion stage and then progressively grew into multi-layer structures compared to those without galactose ligands by the observation with fluorescence microscope and scanning electron microscopy. Furthermore, live-dead assay and functional tests demonstrated that HepG2 cells on GPCL membranes had superior viability and maintained better liver-specific functions. Collectively, GPCL has great potential for hepatic tissue engineering scaffolds.
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory for Ultrafine Materials of Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China. Electronic address: zhang_yan@ecust.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory for Ultrafine Materials of Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: The State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, School of Bioengineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237, China.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: The State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, School of Bioengineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory for Ultrafine Materials of Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China. Electronic address: mdlang@ecust.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Meidong
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lang
mesh_terms: D000418:Albumins / Q000378:metabolism; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002470:Cell Survival; D005690:Galactose / Q000737:chemistry*; D056945:Hep G2 Cells; D006801:Humans; D011091:Polyesters / Q000737:chemistry*; D011108:Polymers / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry; D013499:Surface Properties; D017155:Wettability
chemical_list: D000418:Albumins; D011091:Polyesters; D011108:Polymers; C016240:polycaprolactone; D005690:Galactose
keywords: Galactose; HepG2 cells; Hepatic tissue engineering; Modified surface; Poly(ε-caprolactone)