Response of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells to Patterned and Randomly Oriented Poly(Vinyl Alcohol) Nano-fibrous Scaffolds Surface-Modified with Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) Ligand

The aim of this study was to obtain a better insight of how nano-fibrous scaffolds can affect human mesenchymal stem cells responses. Therefore, in this study, using electrospinning technique, poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) nano-fibers with two different patterns were prepared. In the first structure, PVA nano-fibers were oriented randomly and in the second structure, nano-fibers were electrospun in such a way that a special pattern was obtained. In order to enhance their stability, scaffolds were cross-linked using glutaraldehyde vapor. RGD immobilization was used to improve cell adhesion properties of the scaffolds. SEM micrographs demonstrated that the cell adhesion was effectively enhanced after RGD immobilization and higher cell densities were observed on RGD-modified scaffolds. Randomly oriented nano-fibers showed better cell adhesion compared to patterned structure. Patterned structure also revealed slightly lower cell viability compared to random nano-fibers. Finally, it was assumed that randomly oriented nano-fibers provide a more favorable surface for cells.