Modification of bacterial cellulose with organosilanes to improve attachment and spreading of human fibroblasts

Bacterial cellulose (BC) synthesized by Acetobacter xylinum has been a promising candidate for medical applications. Modifying BC to possess the properties needed for specific applications has been reported. In this study, BCs functionalized by organosilanes were hypothesized to improve the attachment and spreading of normal human dermal fibroblast (NHDF). The BC gels obtained from biosynthesis were dried by either ambient-air drying or freeze drying. The surfaces of those dried BCs were chemically modified by grafting methyl terminated octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) or amine terminated 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) to expectedly increase hydrophobic or electrostatic interactions with NHDF cells, respectively. NHDF cells improved their attachment and spreading on the majority of APTES-modified BCs (similar to 70-80 % of area coverage by cells) with more rapid growth (similar to 2.6-2.8x after incubations from 24 to 48 h) than on tissue culture polystyrene (similar to 2x); while the inverse results (<5 % of area coverage and stationary growth) were observed on the OTS-modified BCs. For organosilane modified BCs, the drying method had no effect on in vitro cell attachment/spreading behaviors.