Graphical analysis of mammalian cell adhesion in vitro.
Short-term (<2h) cell adhesion kinetics of 3 different mammalian cell types: MDCK (epithelioid), MC3T3-E1 (osteoblastic), and MDA-MB-231 (cancerous) on 7 different substratum surface chemistries spanning the experimentally-observable range of water wettability (surface energy) are graphically analyzed to qualitatively elucidate commonalities and differences among cell/surface/suspending media combinations. We find that short-term mammalian cell attachment/adhesion in vitro correlates with substratum surface energy as measured by water adhesion tension, τ≡γlvcosθ, where γlvis water liquid-vapor interfacial energy (72.8   mJ/m2) and cosθ is the cosine of the advancing contact angle subtended by a water droplet on the substratum surface. No definitive functional relationships among cell-adhesion kinetic parameters and τ were observed as in previous work, but previously-observed general trends were reproduced, especially including a sharp transition in the magnitude of kinetic parameters from relatively low-to-high near τ=0mJ/m2, although the exact adhesion tension at which this transition occurs is difficult to accurately estimate from the current data set. We note, however, that the transition is within the hydrophobic range based on the τ=30mJ/m2surface-energetic dividing line that has been proposed to differentiate "hydrophobic" surfaces from "hydrophilic". Thus, a rather sharp hydrophobic/hydrophilic contrast is observed for cell adhesion for disparate cell/surface combinations.
Research Institute for Biomimetics and Soft Matter, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory for Soft Functional Materials Research, Department of Physics, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China. Electronic address: qlhuang@xmu.edu.cn.
Qiaoling
Q
Huang
Departments of Materials Science and Engineering and Bioengineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA. Electronic address: mia5119@psu.edu.
Martin
M
Antensteiner
Department of Physics, National University of Singapore, 2 Science Drive 3, Singapore, 117542, Singapore, Singapore; Research Institute for Biomimetics and Soft Matter, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory for Soft Functional Materials Research, Department of Physics, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China. Electronic address: phyliuxy@nus.edu.sg.
Xiang Yang
XY
Liu
State Key Laboratory for Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, and Department of Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China. Electronic address: cjlin@xmu.edu.cn.
Changjian
C
Lin
Departments of Materials Science and Engineering and Bioengineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA. Electronic address: eav3@psu.edu.
Erwin A
EA
Vogler
D000818:Animals; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D004285:Dogs; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D007700:Kinetics; D061985:Madin Darby Canine Kidney Cells
Cell adhesion; Graphical analysis; Kinetics; Surface energy; Water adhesion tension