Switchable Oligo(glycidyl ether) Acrylate Bottlebrushes "Grafted-from" Polystyrene Surfaces: A Versatile Strategy toward Functional Cell Culture Substrates
Daniel David Stöbener, Johanna Scholz, Uwe Schedler, Marie Weinhart – 2018
Thermoresponsive brushes based on linearpoly(glycidyl ether)s (PGEs) have already shown to befunctional coatings for cell sheet fabrication. In here, weintroduce a method to functionalize polystyrene (PS) tissueculture substrates with thermoresponsive coatings comprisingglycidyl ether-based bottlebrush architectures. Utilizing theUV-induced“grafting-from”approach, thermoresponsiveoligo(glycidyl ether) acrylate (OGEA) macromonomerswere polymerized from PS substrates under bulk conditions.Applying ellipsometry, water contact angle (CA), and atomicforce microscopy (AFM) measurements, we found that OGEA coatings exhibit a complex, gel-like structure comprisingnanosized roughness and exhibit a temperature-dependent phase transition in water through the reversible hydration of OGEAbottlebrush side chains. To assess the utility of the coatings as functional substrates for cell sheet fabrication, human dermalfibroblast (HDF) adhesion and detachment were investigated. By adjusting the bottlebrush properties via the grafting procedureand coating structure, we were able to harvest confluent HDF sheets from functionalized PS substrates in a temperature-triggered, controlled manner. As thefirst report on surface-grafted bottlebrushes comprising thermoresponsive side chains withmolecular weight of up to 1 kDa, this study demonstrates the potential of OGEA-based coatings for cell sheet fabrication.