Enhanced adhesion and differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cell inside apatite-mineralized/poly(dopamine)-coated poly(epsilon-caprolactone) scaffolds by stereolithography

The purpose of this study is to develop PCL scaffolds using stereolithography technology and induced modifications using a poly dopamine (PDA)-coated/HA precipitate to stimulate human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs). The chemical composition and surface properties of HA/PDA/PLA were characterized by XPS. HA/PDA/PLA modulated hMSCs responses in several ways. The extracellular matrix (collagen and fibronectin) adsorption was significantly higher on the substrates with the highest amount of PDA coating than on pure PCL. Increased focal adhesion kinase (FAK) levels and enhanced cell attachment were observed upon an increase in PDA content. The proliferation, alkaline phosphatase, osteogenesis-related proteins (OPN and BSP), and angiogenesis-related protein (vWF and ang-1) secretion of hMSCs were significantly stimulated when the PDA-coated concentration was increased. The PDA-coated/HA precipitate increases osteogenesis and angiogenesis of hMSCs cultured with a PCL scaffold. Our results demonstrate that this simple, bio-inspired surface modification of the organic PCL scaffold using PDA is a very promising tool for regulating cell behaviour, and may serve as an effective stem cell delivery carrier for bone tissue engineering.