PEG-PLA used to create porous film to encourage cellular growth

PolySciTech (www.polyscitech.com) provides a wide array of PEG-PLA block copolymers. Recently these types of polymers were utilized in order to generate honey-comb shaped films using a templating technique. It was found that these surfaces could support the growth of GFP-U87 cells indicating that these polymers can be a suitable matrix for cell growth. Read more: Yao, Bingjian, Qingzeng Zhu, Linli Yao, and Jingcheng Hao. "Fabrication of honeycomb-structured poly (ethylene glycol)-block-poly (lactic acid) porous films and biomedical applications for cell growth." Applied Surface Science (2015). http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169433215002093

“Abstract: A series of poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(lactic acid) (PEG-PLA) copolymers with a hydrophobic PLA block of different molecular weights and a fixed length hydrophilic PEG were synthesized successfully and charaterized. These amphiphilic block copolymers were used to fabricate honeycomb-structured porous films using the breath figure (BF) templating technique. The surface topology and composition of the highly ordered pattern film were further characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and fluorescence microscopy. The results indicated that the PEG-to-PLA block molecular weight ratio influenced the BF film surface topology. The film with the best ordered pores was obtained with a PEG-to-PLA ratio of 2.0 × 103: 3.0 × 104. The self-organization of the hydrophilic PEG chains within the pores was confirmed by XPS and fluorescence labeled PEG. A model is proposed to elucidate the stabilization process of the amphiphilic PEG-PLA aggregated architecture on the water droplet-based templates. In addition, GFP-U87 cell viability has been investigated by MTS test and the cell morphology on the honeycomb-structured PEG-PLA porous film has been evaluated using phase-contrast microscope. This porous film is shown to be suitable as a matrix for cell growth. Highlights: Honeycomb-structured PEG-PLA porous films were fabricated. The organization of pores depends on molecular weight ratio of PEG-to-PLA block. The pores in the film were internally decorated with a layer of PEG. The honeycomb-structured PEG-PLA film was suitable as a substrate for cell growth. Keywords: Poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(lactic acid) (PEG-PLA); Breath figure; Honeycomb-structured film; Migration; Cell growth”