(634e) Thermo-Responsive Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) Grafted on Polydopamine-Coated Surface for Cell Harvesting

Thermo-responsive Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) grafted surfaces have been widely used in the area of tissue engineering and drug release due to the reversible phase transition at its lower critical solution temperature around 32°C. The aim of this research is to develop a simple and cost-effective method to produce PNIPAAm using polydopamine-coated surface as a platform. To do so, dopamine was first conjugated with polymerization initiator, and then a layer of functionalized polydopamine film was formed onto a glass substrate when the pH of the solution was adjusted to 8.5. Surface-initiated PNIPAAm was obtained after standard polymerization procedure. The PNIPAAm-grafted polydopamine-coated surface was characterized by analytic tools such as FTIR and contact angle. Anchorage-dependent cells cultured on the thermo-responsive surface were easily detached without trypsin at ambient temperature.