Cellular Response to PCL/ZrO2 Hybrid 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/ZrO2 hybrids differently supports cell proliferation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]