Electrical stimulation affects adsorption dynamics in a conductive, biocompatible polymer

The development of biomaterials, such as engineered tissue and biocompatible polymers, have paved the way for regenerative medicine. Specifically, biomaterials with conductive properties can affect absorption dynamics, cellular adhesion and enhance cell growth. Though the benefits of such stimuli-responsive materials have been studied in depth, the chemical mechanisms behind these benefits are still not completely understood.

Silva et al. studied the effect of electrical stimulation on a conductive, partially biodegradable copolymer and how it impacted serum protein adsorption and fibronectin (an anchoring protein) adsorption dynamics.

They used a technique known as electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (EQCM-D) and combined it with electrical stimulation to enhance fibroblast cell culture. The authors studied how the electrical stimulation affected the adsorption and discovered the rheological properties on the fibronectin adsorbed layer.

“The analysis of EQCM-D data indicates that fibronectin adsorbed layer is very soft, suggesting that it presents an unfolded conformation, which might be better for cell adhesion process,” said author Susana Ines Cordoba de Torresi.

After the application of electrical stimulation, the authors saw an increase in adsorption and high proliferation of fibroblast cells.

“Deeper investigation has shown that not only the amount of proteins is important, but also the adsorption dynamics, for example, protein conformation at adsorbed layer, are crucial to effectively enhance cell culture,” said Cordoba de Torresi.

In the future, the authors intend to test the role of pulsed, short-term and long-term electrical stimulation on protein adsorption dynamics and cellular culture to continue to optimize biomedical devices.

Source: “Electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation investigation of fibronectin adsorption dynamics driven by electrical stimulation onto a conducting and partially biodegradable copolymer,” by Aruã C. Da Silva, Rubens A. da Silva, Maria J. P. G. Souza, Paula M. Montoya, Ricardo Bentini, Tatiana Augusto, Roberto M. Torresi, Luiz H. Catalani, and Susana I. Córdoba de Torresi, Biointerphases (2020). The article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1116/1.5144983 .