Temperature-sensitive chitosan membranes as a substrate for cell adhesion and cell sheet detachment

A series of temperature-sensitive poly(CSA-co-NIPAAm) membranes that were suitable for cell culture and confluent cell sheets detachment were prepared. The membranes with thermo-responsive surface properties were synthesized by the copolymerization of acrylic acid-derivatized chitosan (CSA) and N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm) in aqueous solution. Characterization of the membranes were carried out by means of the Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and water contact-angle (WCA) measurements. The adhesion and detachment of mouse fibroblast (L929) cells on these membranes have been investigated. The study showed that poly(CSA-co-NIPAAm) membranes could not only enhance fibroblasts attachment but also harvest confluent cell sheets by simply lowering the temperature. Furthermore, the detached cells retained high viability and could proliferate again after transferred to a new culture surface. Copyright (C) 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.