Improving the Osteogenicity of PCL Fiber Substrates by Surface-Immobilization of Bone Morphogenic Protein-2

Polycaprolactone (PCL) fiber scaffolds are attractive, albeit inert, substrates for ligament regeneration, that may be improved by incorporating trophic factors to guide tissue remodeling in vivo. In particular, immobilization of bone morphogenic protein-2 (BMP-2) to the scaffold surface may facilitate rapid and robust integration of the scaffold with adjacent bone tissues. As a first step toward testing this, model PCL surfaces were modified by the addition of heparin (Hep) and BMP-2 to facilitate osteoblastic differentiation. Specifically, Hep was combined with PCL at 0, 0.5, and 1 wt% (denoted as PCL, PCL-0.5Hep, and PCL-1Hep), cast into films, and then BMP-2 was immobilized to surfaces by either adsorption and covalent conjugation. Here, BMP-2 concentration increased systematically with incorporation of Hep, and higher concentrations were achieved by covalent conjugation. Next, blends were electrospun to form thin meshes with fiber diameters of 0.92, 0.62, and 0.54 μm for PCL, PCL-0.5Hep, and PCL-1Hep, respectively. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) had no difficulty attaching to and proliferating on all meshes. Lastly, PCL-1Hep meshes were prepared with adsorbed or covalently conjugated BMP-2 and cultured with MSCs in the absence of osteogenic factors. Under these conditions, alkaline phosphatase activity and deposition of bone sialoprotein, osteopontin, and calcium minerals-markers of osteoblastic differentiation-were significantly higher on surfaces with immobilized BMP-2. Together, these data indicate that covalent immobilization of trophic factors confers bioactivity to scaffolds, which may be applied in a spatially controlled manner for ligament regeneration and bone integration.