Immobilization of collagen - an effective method of improving cell adhesion on polymeric materials

Surface properties of poly(L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLG), and two reference materials: hydrophobic polystyrene (PS) and hydrophilic tissue culture polystyrene (TCPS) were modified by collagen adsorption. The morphology of the obtained collagen film was observed by using atomic force microscopy. On PLG and TCPS collagen layer was uniform, while on PS collagen formed isolated patches. The differences in supramolecular organization of collagen were due to differences in surface wettability. The behaviour of L929 fibroblasts incubated on all raw and collagen-modified surfaces was then evaluated. The best adhesion and spreading of cells, as expected, were observed on TCPS. Collagen adsorbed on PLG and PS considerably improved adhesion and spreading of fibroblasts.