title: Cysteine modified polyaniline films improve biocompatibility for two cell lines.
abstract: This work focuses on one of the most exciting application areas of conjugated conducting polymers, which is cell culture and tissue engineering. To improve the biocompatibility of conducting polymers we present an easy method that involves the modification of the polymer backbone using l-cysteine. In this publication, we show the synthesis of polyaniline (PANI) films supported onto Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) films, and modified using cysteine (PANI-Cys) in order to generate a biocompatible substrate for cell culture. The PANI-Cys films are characterized by Fourier Transform infrared and UV-visible spectroscopy. The changes in the hydrophilicity of the polymer films after and before the modification were tested using contact angle measurements. After modification the contact angle changes from 86°±1 to 90°±1, suggesting a more hydrophylic surface. The adhesion properties of LM2 and HaCaT cell lines on the surface of PANI-Cys films in comparison with tissue culture plastic (TCP) are studied. The PANI-Cys film shows better biocompatibility than PANI film for both cell lines. The cell morphologies on the TCP and PANI-Cys film were examined by florescence and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Microscopic observations show normal cellular behavior when PANI-Cys is used as a substrate of both cell lines (HaCaT and LM2) as when they are cultured on TCP. The ability of these PANI-Cys films to support cell attachment and growth indicates their potential use as biocompatible surfaces and in tissue engineering.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biología Molecular, Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto, Agencia Postal Nro3, X580BYA Río Cuarto, Argentina. Electronic address: eyslas@exa.unrc.edu.ar.
authors.forename: Edith I
authors.initials: EI
authors.lastname: Yslas
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Química, Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto, Agencia Postal Nro3, X580BYA Río Cuarto, Argentina.
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cavallo
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Química, Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto, Agencia Postal Nro3, X580BYA Río Cuarto, Argentina.
authors.forename: Diego F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Acevedo
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Química, Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto, Agencia Postal Nro3, X580BYA Río Cuarto, Argentina.
authors.forename: César A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Barbero
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biología Molecular, Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto, Agencia Postal Nro3, X580BYA Río Cuarto, Argentina.
authors.forename: Viviana A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Rivarola
mesh_terms: D000814:Aniline Compounds / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002460:Cell Line; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D003545:Cysteine / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D008422:Materials Testing; D008567:Membranes, Artificial
chemical_list: D000814:Aniline Compounds; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; C416807:polyaniline; D003545:Cysteine
keywords: Conducting polymers; Polyaniline; Tissue engineering