Increased adhesion on carbon nanofiber/polymer composite materials

Previous studies have shown that nanometer dimension materials (such as carbon nanofibers) increase the adhesion of osteoblasts (bone matrix-producing cells) compared to their micron dimension counterparts. It was the purpose of the present study to observe the effect of variable weight percents of carbon nanofibers in a PLGA (poly(dl-lactide/glycolide) 50:50 wt. %) polymer composite on osteoblast adhesion. Specifically, 0.5, 1.0, and 5.0 wt % of carbon nanofibers were chosen as the variable weight percents and pure PLGA, pure carbon nanofiber, and etched glass substrates were used as controls. Results have provided evidence that osteoblast adhesion increases as the percent of carbon nanofibers increases in PLGA composites.