Long-Term Maintenance of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells on cRGDfK-Presenting Synthetic Surfaces

Synthetic human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) culture surfaces with defined physical and chemical properties will facilitate improved research and therapeutic applications of hPSCs. In this study, synthetic surfaces for hPSC culture in E8 medium were produced for screening by modifying two polymer brush coatings [poly(acrylamide-co-acrylic acid) (PAAA) and poly(acrylamide-co-propargyl acrylamide) (PAPA)] to present single peptides. Adhesion of hPSC colonies was more consistently observed on surfaces modified with cRGDfK compared to surfaces modified with other peptide sequences tested. PAPA-coated polystyrene flasks with coupled cRGDfK (cRGDfK-PAPA) were then used for long-term studies of three hPSC lines (H9, hiPS-NHF1.3, Genea-02). Cell lines maintained for ten passages on cRGDfK-PAPA were assessed for colony morphology, proliferation rate, maintenance of OCT4 expression, cell viability at harvest, teratoma formation potential, and global gene expression as assessed by the PluriTest™ assay. cRGDfK-PAPA and control cultures maintained on Geltrex™ produced comparable results in most assays. No karyotypic abnormalities were detected in cultures maintained on cRGDfK-PAPA, while abnormalities were detected in cultures maintained on Geltrex™, StemAdhere™ or Synthemax™. This is the first report of long term maintenance of hPSC cultures on the scalable, stable, and cost-effective cRGDfK-PAPA coating.