Development of electroactive and elastic nanofibers that contain polyaniline and poly(L-lactide-co-epsilon-caprolactone) for the control of cell adhesion

Macromol Biosci. 2008 Jul 7;8(7):627-37. doi: 10.1002/mabi.200800005.

Abstract

In this work, electrically conductive polyaniline (PAni) doped with camphorsulfonic acid (CPSA) is blended with poly(L-lactide-co-epsilon-caprolactone) (PLCL), and then electrospun to prepare uniform nanofibers. The CPSA-PAni/PLCL nanofibers show a smooth fiber structure without coarse lumps or beads and consistent fiber diameters (which range from 100 to 700 nm) even with an increase in the amount of CPSA-PAni (from 0 to 30 wt.-%). However, the elongation at break decreases from 391.54 +/- 9.20% to 207.85 +/- 6.74% when 30% of CPSA-PAni is incorporated. Analysis of the surface of the nanofibers demonstrates the presence of homogeneously blended CPSA-PAni. Most importantly, a four-point probe analysis reveals that electrical properties are maintained in the nanofibers where the conductivity is significantly increased from 0.0015 to 0.0138 S x cm(-1) when the nanofibers are prepared with 30% CPSA-PAni. The cell adhesion tests using human dermal fibroblasts, NIH-3T3 fibroblasts, and C2C12 myoblasts demonstrate significantly higher adhesion on the CPSA-PAni/PLCL nanofibers than pure PLCL nanofibers. In addition, the growth of NIH-3T3 fibroblasts is enhanced under the stimulation of various direct current flows. The CPSA-PAni/PLCL nanofibers with electrically conductive properties may potentially be used as a platform substrate to study the effect of electrical signals on cell activities and to direct desirable cell function for tissue engineering applications.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aniline Compounds / chemistry
  • Aniline Compounds / pharmacology*
  • Animals
  • Cell Adhesion / drug effects
  • Electrochemistry / methods
  • Humans
  • Mice
  • NIH 3T3 Cells
  • Nanostructures* / chemistry
  • Nanostructures* / ultrastructure
  • Polyesters / chemistry
  • Polyesters / pharmacology*

Substances

  • Aniline Compounds
  • Polyesters
  • polyaniline
  • lactide-caprolactone copolymer