Hepatocyte Adhesion Behavior on Modified Hydroxyapatite Nanocrystals with Quartz Crystal Microbalance

The initial adhesion, spreading and cytoskeleton changes of hepatocyte-like cells on hydroxyapatite (HAp) and oxidized poly(styrene) (PSox) sensors pre-adsorbed fetal bovine serum (FBS), collagen (Col) and fibronectin (FN) were analyzed by using a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation technique and a confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM). The ΔD-Δf plots of the cell adhesion behavior on HAp nanocrystals clearly depended on the pre- adsorbed proteins, while that on PSox showed almost same behavior irrespective of the proteins. The different adhesion behavior depended on the substrate surfaces was attributed to the cell-surface interactions. CLSM images showed that the morphology of the cultured cells depended on the surfaces and the cells on the HAp and PSox adsorbed Col or FN had sometimes pseudopods. The different cellular morphology indicated that the cytoskeleton changes and the rearrangement of the extracellular matrix at the interface caused the species of pre-adsorbed proteins.