The terpolymer produced by Azotobacter chroococcum 7B: effect of surface properties on cell attachment

PLoS One. 2013;8(2):e57200. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0057200. Epub 2013 Feb 26.

Abstract

The copolymerization of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) is a promising trend in bioengineering to improve biomedical properties, e.g. biocompatibility, of this biodegradable polymer. We used strain Azotobacter chroococcum 7B, an effective producer of PHB, for biosynthesis of not only homopolymer and its main copolymer, poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHB-HV), but also novel terpolymer, poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate)-poly(ethylene glycol) (PHB-HV-PEG), using sucrose as the primary carbon source and valeric acid and poly(ethylene glycol) 300 (PEG 300) as additional carbon sources. The chemical structure of PHB-HV-PEG was confirmed by (1)H nuclear-magnetic resonance analysis. The physico-chemical properties (molecular weight, crystallinity, hydrophilicity, surface energy) of produced biopolymer, the protein adsorption to the terpolymer, and cell growth on biopolymer films were studied. Despite of low EG-monomers content in bacterial-origin PHB-HV-PEG polymer, the terpolymer demonstrated significant improvement in biocompatibility in vitro in contrast to PHB and PHB-HV polymers, which may be coupled with increased protein adsorption, hydrophilicity and surface roughness of PEG-containing copolymer.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Azotobacter / metabolism*
  • Biocompatible Materials
  • Biopolymers / biosynthesis
  • Biopolymers / physiology*
  • Calorimetry, Differential Scanning
  • Cell Adhesion*
  • Cell Proliferation
  • Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
  • Microscopy, Atomic Force
  • Molecular Weight

Substances

  • Biocompatible Materials
  • Biopolymers

Grants and funding

The work is supported by Federal Target Programs of RF Ministry of Education and Science (http://www.fcpir.ru, http://www.fcpk.ru) projects # 16.512.11.2019, 14.740.11.1077, 16.740.11.0652 and Ministry of Industry and Trade (http://www.minpromtorg.gov.ru) projects # 12411.1008799.13.148. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.