Polarized protein membrane for high cell seeding efficiency

A new type of scaffold for tissue engineering was developed to give enhanced cell seeding in three dimensions. A gradient of either collagen or fibrin protein was prepared, supported by a knitted poly(ethylene terephtalate) PET fabric. The membranes were, after hydrolysis and acetic acid wash, submerged in a protein solution for adsorption followed by immersion into a gelling agent. The immediate contact between the protein solution held by the fabric and the gelling agent resulted in a dense, fibrous protein network with pore sizes around 0.5 microm at the surface, and larger pores of 10-50 microm size throughout the interior of the fabric as observed by scanning electron microscopy. By separating the fabric double layers holding this network, a gradient porosity membrane was produced. To evaluate the fractions of cells trapped in the matrix upon seeding, i.e. the seeding efficiency, 500 microl 3T3 fibroblasts cell suspension containing one million cells was seeded by filtering through the gradient protein membrane. For both the collagen and fibrin membranes, the seeding efficiency was approximately 93%, which was significantly higher than that of 28% from the corresponding PET fabric without protein immobilization. Attempt to seed cells from the dense side of the protein networks resulted in no cell penetration into the scaffold. Histology on subsequent culture of the cells in the scaffold demonstrated viability and proliferation in three dimensions throughout the scaffold. This new and simple way of producing scaffolds play an important role when the cells are precious or scarce and cell seeding in three dimensions is important.