Cytocompatibility of poly(1,2 propandiol methacrylate) copolymer hydrogels and conetworks with or without alkyl amine functionality

The cytocompatibility and adhesion of cells to biomaterials are key to their success in the clinic. Here we report a study of the toxicity, cell-adhesive properties and biocompatibility of a range of alkyl-aminated hydrogels and amphiphilic conetworks comprising 1,2-propandiol-3-methacrylate (GMA) as the hydrophilic component. Previously we had shown that addition of amines containing alkyl spacers of at 3–6 carbons or addition of oligo(butyl methacrylate) sequences to crosslinked polyGMA hydrogels could be used to produce a step change in cell adhesion. In this work we produced two series of polymer networks, based on polyGMA, which contained both of these structural features and we examined the effects that these materials had on A549 epithelial cells and human dermal fibroblasts. No toxicity was observed from either direct contact or from supernatants extracted over 48 h. Each of the alkyl-aminated materials provided a good substrate for adhesion of both cell types whereas the non-alkyl-aminated materials were essentially non-cell-adhesive. Peritoneal murine macrophages were present on all of the materials and the activation of these adhered macrophages was investigated by determining the production of the pro-inflammatory cytokines, TNF-α, IL1β and IL-6. All of the materials behaved similarly to a clinically acceptable control, Permacol® (a decellularized collagen-based porcine derived material), and each material was much less activating than when the macrophages were in contact with lipopolysaccharide endotoxin. There were no differences in the capacity of the materials to activate TNF-α production by macrophages however, there was a trend towards stimulation of lower levels of IL-6 and IL-1β by the alkyl-aminated materials.