I have functionalized my PCL nanofibers with amine functional group and want to know about the interaction of cell-PCL nanofiber through physical properties of scaffold
stiff is a mechanical parameter while surface chemistry is more of a chemical response.
Usually to enhance the cell interaction the polymer substrate is subjected to multiple form of surface modification ( chemical func, plasma/NIR/UV treatment, changes in surface roughness etc) hence by chemistry you change the thermodynamic response of the surface ( usually as seen as changes in contact angle and surface energies) which dominant the cell surface interaction.This is followed with analytical characterization (Raman, XRD, FTIR etc) to understand which chemical group has better interaction.
Your fiber stiffness which is obtained by uni-axial stretching which is much more of a material (sample) property and its influence would more on material property matching with a native tissue instead of cell adhesion and interaction
Yest it does correlate indeed. But the interaction between the cells and the fibers is complicated and it is surface-area dependent as well. the interaction between cells and the fibers which have the same amine-functionalist degree would be different according to the fibers diameters (given that all the other parameters are constant). You have to consider the diameter of the surface when studying the stiffness effects. For example, if you have two different scaffolds which have different fiber diameters but the cell-fiber stiffness degree is the same, the embryonic stem cells adhere faster and poorly proliferate in the thinner fibers, on contrast, if the fibers are thicker then the cells will adhere slower and proliferate much more better. Again, it depends on the degree of stiffness and diameter, and the cell type.
Stiffness of nanofibers also depends on the fiber density and based on their orientation(random/isotropic) and also the thickness of the scaffolds and importantly based on fiber diameter and polymer chemistry.
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