title: Controlling Gel Structure to Modulate Cell Adhesion and Spreading on the Surface of Microcapsules.
abstract: The surface properties of implanted materials or devices play critical roles in modulating cell behavior. However, the surface properties usually affect cell behaviors synergetically so that it is still difficult to separately investigate the influence of a single property on cell behavior in practical applications. In this study, alginate-chitosan (AC) microcapsules with a dense or loose gel structure were fabricated to understand the effect of gel structure on cell behavior. Cells preferentially adhered and spread on the loose gel structure microcapsules rather than on the dense ones. The two types of microcapsules exhibited nearly identical surface positive charges, roughness, stiffness, and hydrophilicity; thus, the result suggested that the gel structure was the principal factor affecting cell behavior. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses demonstrated that the overall percentage of positively charged amino groups was similar on both microcapsules. The different gel structures led to different states and distributions of the positively charged amino groups of chitosan, so we conclude that the loose gel structure facilitated greater cell adhesion and spreading mainly because more protonated amino groups remained unbound and exposed on the surface of these microcapsules.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biomedical Materials Engineering, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , 457 Zhongshan Road, Dalian 116023, PR China.|University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049, PR China.
authors.forename: Huizhen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biomedical Materials Engineering, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , 457 Zhongshan Road, Dalian 116023, PR China.|University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049, PR China.
authors.forename: Meng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biomedical Materials Engineering, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , 457 Zhongshan Road, Dalian 116023, PR China.|University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049, PR China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biomedical Materials Engineering, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , 457 Zhongshan Road, Dalian 116023, PR China.|University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049, PR China.
authors.forename: Ruyun
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lou
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biomedical Materials Engineering, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , 457 Zhongshan Road, Dalian 116023, PR China.
authors.forename: Hongguo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biomedical Materials Engineering, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , 457 Zhongshan Road, Dalian 116023, PR China.
authors.forename: Weiting
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: College of Environment and Chemical Engineering, Dalian University , Dalian Economic Technological Development Zone, Dalian 116622, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiudong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biomedical Materials Engineering, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , 457 Zhongshan Road, Dalian 116023, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiaojun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ma
mesh_terms: D000464:Alginates / Q000737:chemistry; D000818:Animals; D002214:Capsules / Q000737:chemistry*; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D002460:Cell Line; D048271:Chitosan / Q000737:chemistry; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D051379:Mice; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D000464:Alginates; D002214:Capsules; D048271:Chitosan
keywords: alginate−chitosan microcapsule; cell adhesion and spreading; gel structure; protonated amino; surface property