Interaction of fibroblasts on polycarbonate membrane surfaces with different micropore sizes and hydrophilicity

Surface topography appears to be an important but often neglected factor in implant performance. In this study, fibroblasts were cultured on a range o f porous polycarbonate (PC) membranes with well defined surface topography (track-etched micropores, 0.2-8.0 mu m in diameter) and wettability gradien ts. The wettability gradient on the PC membrane surfaces was produced by tr eating the surfaces with corona from a knife-type electrode whose power inc reased gradually along the sample length. The PC membrane surfaces were cha racterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the water contact angl e measurement. Fibroblasts were cultured on the corona-treated PC membrane surfaces with different micropore sizes for 1 and 2 days. The cells attache d on the membrane surfaces were examined by SEM and the cell density on the surfaces was estimated by counting the number of attached cells along the wettability gradient. It was observed that the cells were adhered and grew more on the hydrophilic positions of the membrane surfaces than the more hy drophobic ones, regardless of micropore size. It was also observed that cel l adhesion and growth decreased gradually with increasing micropore size of the membrane surfaces. It seems that the cell adhesion and growth were pro gressively inhibited as the membrane surfaces had micropores with increasin g size, probably due to surface discontinuities produced by tract-etched po res. On the membrane surfaces with smaller micropore sizes, the cells seeme d to override these surface discontinuities.