Cellular response to PCL/ZrO2hybrid materials synthesized via sol-gel as a function of PCL content

The design of new materials with enhanced properties continues to be a driver for the investigation of hybrid materials in biomedical filed. It is known that the preparation method influences the structure and the biological properties of these materials. The sol-gel process provides a convenient way to produce many organic-inorganic hybrids. In order to evaluate potential use of the organic-inorganic hybrids as biomaterials, further knowledge about their biological properties is needed. In this study have been proposed poly(e-caprolactone)/zirconia (PCL/ZrO2) hybrids with different amount of PCL, previously synthesized and characterized, to investigate the effects of these materials on the NIH-3T3 fibroblast cellular response as a function of the PCL content. The cell viability and cell cycle progression were evaluated by direct cell number counting, MTT, cell damage assays, flow cytometry-based analysis of cell-cycle progression and immunoblotting experiments. The results show that the content of PCL in PCL/ZrO2hybrids differently supports cell proliferation.