Polymeric scaffold synthesis and chemical modification for enhanced cell-polymer interaction

A polymeric scaffold was synthesized and chemically modified with bioactive peptides to promote neuron cell adhesion and guide neurite outgrowth for neural tissue engineering applications. Specifically, 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) and 2-aminoethyl methacrylate (AEMA) monomers were co-polymerized to form a transparent hydrogel within which well defined channels were introduced using a fiber templating technique. P(HEMA-co-AEMA) scaffolds were fabricated and characterized. While these scaffolds themselves are non-adhesive to cells, they were chemically modified with a mixture of two laminin-derived peptides, CDPGYIGSR and CQAASIKVAV, through a crosslinking agent, sulfo-(N-maleimidomethyl)cyclohexane-1-carboxylate (sulfo-SMCC), to promote cell adhesion and neurite outgrowth. The peptide modified P(HEMA- co-AEMA) scaffolds were easily fabricated in aqueous conditions, highly reproducible, well-defined, and enhanced neural cell adhesion and guided neurite outgrowth of primary chick dorsal root ganglia neurons relative to non-peptide-modified controls.