Assembly and Study of Mesenchymal Stem Cells on
Controlled Chemistry Surfaces
Batoul Hamieh, Cristina Vochitoaia, Halima Alem, Emmanuel Guedon,
Tayssir Hamieh and Joumana Toufaily
Abstract:
The cell responds to the physical constraints exerted by its environment by a set of mechanisms grouped under the term of mechanotransduction. These processes involve the molecules
involved in cell adhesion, the cytoskeleton and the nucleus. These environmental constraints,
whether related to the rigidity of the support, to its topography or to the nature of its surface
chemistry, will modulate the cellular morphology and impact the behavior of the cell. In order
to study this influence of the support, we have seeded bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells
from a primary culture of a 24 years old individual on virgin mica surfaces or treated homogeneously with natural molecules (fibronectin and the cyclic RGD peptide) or with polyelectrolyte
multilayers (five cycles of Chitosan / PAA or Chitosan / PSS). We then studied the morphology,
proliferation and differentiation of these cells after 12 days of culture. As a result, bone marrow
mesenchymal stem cells adhere to all surfaces, whether treated or not, and although they are
less spread on virgin surfaces, they adopt a fibroblastic type morphology similar to their physiological phenotype. Their percentage of confluence varies significantly depending on the surface
treatment used. Indeed the maximum confluence was observed for the surfaces grafted with fibronectin (93.25 ± 2.75%) whereas the surfaces treated with the polyelectrolyte multilayers have
much lower confluence percentages (61.00 ± 4.08% for the chitosan / PAA couple) and 54.75
± 1.75% for the Chitosan / PSS couple), mainly due to cell latency at the beginning of culture.
Finally, cells cultured on our surfaces do not respond to any of the three Oil Red O, Alcian Blue
or Alizarin Red S stains, suggesting a lack of differentiation in the adipogenic, chondrogenic or
osteogenic pathways induced by these surfaces. Thus, the control of the support chemistry alone
does not allow control of cell differentiation.
