Apatite-coated three-dimensional fibrous scaffolds and their osteoblast response

Apatite was applied onto the fiber surface of an interbonded three-dimensional polycaprolactone fibrous scaffold through a vacuum nitrogen plasma pretreatment followed by immersion in a simulated body fluid. The plasma pretreatment improved the wettability and accelerated apatite deposition on the fiber surface. The apatite coating was proven to be biocompatible to fibroblast cells without any cytotoxicity. Two osteoblast cell lines, human fetal osteoblast cells (hFOB1.19) and human osteosarcoma cells (Saos-2), were used for evaluating the cell response of the fibrous matrices. The apatite coating showed enhanced cell attachment for both hFOB1.19 and Saos-2 cells. In comparison to the uncoated fibrous scaffolds, the apatite-coated fibrous matrix had an improved hFOB1.19 cell proliferation for at least 2 weeks. Enhanced cell differentiation was also observed on the apatite-coated fibrous matrix primarily on the third, 10th, and 14th days of culture. Saos-2 cells showed improved proliferation in the apatite-coated matrix mainly on days 3 and 14, but the differentiation was increased only on the third day of culture.