ATTACHMENT OF HUMAN BONE-CELLS TO TISSUE-CULTURE POLYSTYRENE AND TO UNMODIFIED POLYSTYRENE - THE EFFECT OF SURFACE-CHEMISTRY UPON INITIAL CELL ATTACHMENT

Cell culture studies have often been used in the determination of the suitability of biomaterials as surfaces for the attachment and growth of cells. For such studies of surfaces for potential use in bone impla nts, cells derived from bone may be maintained in culture on tissue cu lture polystyrene (TCPS). We have determined the contribution that ser um fibronectin (FN) or vitronectin (VN) make to the attachment and spr eading of cells cultured from explanted human bone (bone-derived cells ) during the first 90 min following seeding on culture surfaces. The a ttachment of bone-derived cells to TCPS was simulated two-fold by the addition of 10% (v/v) fetal bovine serum (FBS) to the seeding culture medium. The roles of FN and VN were determined by selective removal of the FN or VN from the FBS prior to addition to the culture medium. FB S from which the VN had been removed did not have this stimulatory act ivity. In contrast, the attachment of bone-derived cells onto TCPS fro m medium containing FN-depleted serum (which contained VN) was the sam e as when intact FBS was used. There was incomplete attachment of bone -derived cells (27% of cells) when seeded in medium containing FBS dep leted of both VN and FN. Our results show that for human bone-derived cells, the attachment onto TCPS of cells planted in medium containing FBS during the first 90 min of culture is principally as a result of a dsorption onto the surface of serum VN. As unmodified polystyrene (PS) has also been used previously as a model biomaterial surface, PS was compared to TCPS for attachment of the bone-derived cells. Attachment of bone-derived cells to TCPS was twice that onto PS, both when the me dium was serum-free and when it contained FBS. Bone-derived cells atta ched to TCPS or PS onto which purified VN or FN had been precoated, wi th VN adsorbed onto PS being as effective as was VN adsorbed onto TCPS . With FN, there was an effect of the polystyrene surface chemistry wh ich was evident in that suboptimal concentrations of FN had a slightly higher potency when adsorbed onto TCPS than did the same concentratio ns of FN coated onto PS. When preadsorbed onto TCPS, the potency of FN for attachment of bone-derived cells was at least equal to that of VN .