Effect of Poly(Oxanorbonene)- and Poly(Methacrylate)-Based Polyzwitterionic Surface Coatings on Cell Adhesion and Gene Expression of Human Keratinocytes
Polyzwitterions are generally known for their anti-adhesive properties,
including resistance to protein and cell adhesion, and overall high
bio-inertness. Yet there are a few polyzwitterions to which mammalian cells
do adhere. To understand the structural features of this behavior, a panel of
polyzwitterions with different functional groups and overall degrees of
hydrophobicity is analyzed here, and their physical and biological properties
are correlated to these structural differences. Cell adhesion is focused on,
which is the basic requirement for cell viability, proliferation, and growth. With
the here presented polyzwitterion panel, three different types of cell-surface
interactions are observed: adhesion, slight attachment, and cell repellency.
Using immunofluorescence methods, it is found that human keratinocytes
(HaCaT) form focal adhesions on the cell-adhesive polyzwitterions, but not on
the sample that has only slight cell attachment. Gene expression analysis
indicates that HaCaT cells cultivated in the presence of a non-adhesive
polyzwitterion have up-regulated inflammatory and apoptosis-related cell
signaling pathways, while the gene expression of HaCaT cells grown on a
cell-adhesive polyzwitterion does not differ from the gene expression of the
growth control, and thus can be defined as fully cell-compatible