Double protein-coated poly-ε-caprolactone scaffolds: successful 2D to 3D transfer

In the past decade, tissue engineering has evolved from a promising technology to an established scientific field. Large attention has focussed on developing scaffolds from both biodegradable and nondegradable polymers to be cultivated with cells, to replace human body defects. The major drawback of most polymers is however their limited cell-interactive properties. An additional complication when developing a surface modification protocol for those materials is the transferability of protocols from 2D substrates to 3D scaffolds. In the present work, we therefore report on possible biological effects originating from the transfer of a double protein coating protocol, involving gelatin type B and fibronectin, from 2D poly-ε-caprolactone (PCL) films to 3D PCL scaffolds produced by rapid prototyping. A variety of techniques including scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and confocal fluorescence microscopy confirmed a successful and homogeneous protein-coating on both 2D and 3D substrates. Interestingly, the biological performance of the double protein-coated PCL substrates, reflected by the initial cell adhesion, proliferation, and colonization was superior compared to the other surface modification steps, independent of the material dimension.