Effects of Surface Topography, Hydrophilicity and Chemistry of Surface-treated PCL Scaffolds on Chondrocyte Infiltration and ECM Production

The interaction of chondrocytes with two surface-treated polycaprolactone (PCL) scaffolds was examined. The surface treatments of PCL scaffolds were performed by alkaline hydrolysis and followed by oxygen plasma treatment. The hydrolysis of PCL was conducted either prior to scaffold fabrication, yielding pre-hydrolyzed PCL, or after scaffold fabrication, yielding post-hydrolyzed PCL. Both hydrolyzed scaffolds were subsequently subjected to plasma treatment. The resulting scaffolds were denoted as plasma-treated pre-HPCL and plasma-treated post-HPCL scaffolds, respectively. The surface morphology, wettability and chemical composition of the surface-treated scaffolds were investigated. The histological results revealed that the chondrocytes infiltrated more thoroughly inside the plasma-treated pre-HPCL scaffold.