Yasuhiro Doi

Thermo-Responsive Polymer Surfaces for Cell Culture: Analysis of the Surfaces and Control of the Cell Attachment / Detachment

Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)(PIPAAm) has been applied to thermal on-off switching polymers for drug release[l]. We have reported that, when PIPAAm is grafted on the surface of a cell culture dish, the cells cultured on the dish can easily be detached at a temperature lower than the LCST of PIPAAm without any help of trypsin etc.[2]. In this study, the grafted surface was characterized and the cell attachment/detachment behavior of the grafted dishes was discussed. The grafted surface changed from hydrophobic(37°C) to hydrophilic(15°C) and the degree of these changes was able to be controlled by the amount of grafted PIPAAm. Bovine endothelial cells could adhere on the grafted surfaces whose PIPAAm graft level were below 2.2 μ g/cm2 at 37 °C and could detach from the grafted dishes whose graft level were over 0.8 μ g/cm2at 15 °C. It was concluded that the PIPAAm grafted dishes whose graft level were 0.8~2.2 μ g/cm2 were good for cell attachment / detachment behavior.