Effect of stiffness of polycaprolactone (PCL) membrane on cell proliferation

Polycaprolactone (PCL) has been fabricated into ultra thin membranes (5 ± 0.01 μm to 30 ± 0.01 μm) for tissue engineering applications by biaxial stretching. However, the traditional solvent casting method raises concerns pertaining toxicity. Heated roll milling technology was included into the fabrication process to achieve a solvent-free biomaterial. The ideal substrate environment that promotes cellular proliferation has been a persistent area of interest in tissue engineering. Other than being biocompatible, the issue of cell proliferation is also important and is hypothesized as a function of the stiffness of the substrate material. This paper reports on experiments carried out to investigate and verify the effect of stiffness of the PCL membrane on fibroblast cell proliferation. Results indicated that 3T3 fibroblasts, belonging to soft tissues, prefer to proliferate in a lower stiffness (0.05 ± 0.01 N/mm) environment, which is closer to its native environment.