Fabricate heparin-mimic thin gel layers for vascular cell selective regulation using 5-hydroxydopamine cross-linked...

In this work, 5-hydroxydopamine was employed as a crosslinking agent to bind chitosan and sulfonated polymers to fabricate thin gel layers (TGLs) featuring heparin-mimic structures. By controlling the distribution of exposed chemical moieties (phenolic hydroxyl, amino, and sulfonic groups), the growth of the endothelial cell (EC) and smooth muscle cell (SMC) on the TGLs surfaces could be modulated. Such modulation effectively maintained the quantity and proportion of the two cell types within a reasonable range, thereby offering a potential avenue for promoting re-endothelialization. The prepared TGLs showed improved hydrophilicity as well as hemocompatibility. For cytocompatibility test, TGLs led to a notable promotion of the growth of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and exerted substantial inhibitory effects on the proliferation of human umbilical artery smooth muscle cells (HUASMCs). The ratio of HUVECs to HUASMCs rose from 0.184 to 1.97. The enhanced hemocompatibility was attributed to the incorporation of exposed functional groups. Regarding the highly selective effects, these were ascribed to the synergistic influence of high sulfonation degree and the presence of amino groups and phenolic hydroxyl groups. The current work illustrated a simple method for synthesizing a multifunctional biomimetic polymer material that offers the promise of broader biomedical research applications.