Study of the adhesion improvement in hippocampal cells on collagen/chitosan- modified silicon surfaces

The aim of this study is to improve hippocampal cell adhesion on silicon (Si) surfaces by surface modification via a chemical method. Collagen and chitosan were first immobilized on a Si surface through a bridging layer of (3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane and 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethyllaminopropyl) carbodiimide. The modified Si surface was then characterized by contact angle measurement, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. The amounts of protein adsorbed on the bare Si surface and collagen/chitosan-modified Si surface were measured by a modified Coomassie brilliant blue protein assay. The cell adhesion behavior was then assessed by a microscopy. The results showed that after the surface modification with the collagen/chitosan compound the protein adsorption on Si surfaces decreased while the adhesion ability of hippocampal cells increased.