Indigenously produced polyhydroxyalkanoate based co-polymer as cellular supportive biomaterial

The focus of this study was to evaluate the growth of the cells on a scaffold based on novel polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) (Polyhydroxy propionate copoly hydroxy ocatadecanoate copolymer), derived from a mutant strain of Pseudomonas sp. Naive PHA was also blended with several biodegradable polymeric materials (PEG, PLA, and MMT) to improve the scaffold properties. Protein adsorption study was done to evaluate the capability of scaffolds for cellular interaction. PHA:PEG blended scaffold showed better adsorption than others. 3T3 fibroblast cultures on various polymers were equally viable when compared with control culture except for the blend PHA:MMT by CCK 8 kit. MTT assay, performed with the continuous cultures HeLa, HEp-2, Vero, and McCoy on the polymer blends, supported the above finding. Among the blends PHA:PEG showed increased viability and was selected for further studies. Cell proliferation assay with colorimetric BrdU ELISA kit showed increase in cell proliferation over the matrix PHA:PEG than that of control. There were no observable morphological changes of continuous cells grown over matrix PHA:PEG when observed by phase contrast microscopy. HEp-2 cells were enclosed within the matrix when analyzed by SEM. The current study states that the scaffold prepared by using the indigenous PHA in combination with PEG supports cell growth better than the conventional plastic surface. PHA:PEG would be a promising material for tissue engineering.