The effect of polymeric membrane surface on HaCaT cell properties

The control of the surface properties is an important issue for applicability of polymer membranes interacting with cells. In this work, the influence of surface roughness and stiffness of two polymer membranes on viability and mechanical properties of keratinocytes was studied. Terpolimer polyglicolide, polycaprolactone and polylactide, (PGA-PCL-PLA) and copolymer polycaprolactone, polyglicolide (PGA-PCL) substrates were used for membranes fabrication. Surface modification - the hydrolysis of the obtained membranes was carried out. The analysis of membranes' surface properties revealed that RMS surface roughness and roughness factor of PGA-PCL-PLA membrane decreased after hydrolysis while its stiffness increased. In contrast, the PGA-PCL membrane stiffness was only slightly affected by NaOH treatment. Immortalized human keratinocytes (HaCaT) were grown under standard conditions on the surface of the studied membranes and characterized by means of atomic force microscopy and fluorescence microcopy. The results showed the substrate-dependent effect on cells' properties.