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Physical cues have been shown to be effective in inducing osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Here, we propose piezoelectric stimulation as a potential osteogenic cue mimicking the electroactive properties of bone's extracellular matrix. When combined with a magnetostrictive component, piezoelectric polymers can be used for MSC stimulation by applying an external magnetic field. The deformation of the magnetostrictive component produces a deformation in the polymer matrix, generating a change in the surface charge that induces an electric field that can be transmitted to the cells. Cell adhesion, cytoskeleton changes, and metabolomics are the first evidence of MSC osteoblastogenesis and can be used to study initial MSC response to this kind of stimulation. In the current study, poly(vinylidene) fluoride (PVDF) piezoelectric films with and without cobalt ferrite oxide (CFO) crystallized from the melt in the presence of the ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methyl-imidazolium chloride ([Bmim][Cl]) were produced. [Bmim][Cl] allowed the production of the β-phase, the most electroactive phase, even without CFO. After ionic liquid removal, PVDF and PVDF-CFO films presented high percentages of the β-phase and similar crystalline content. Incorporating CFO nanoparticles was effective, allowing the electromechanical stimulation of MSCs by applying a magnetic field with a bioreactor. Before stimulation, the initial response of MSCs was characterized in static conditions, showing that the produced films were biocompatible and noncytotoxic, allowing MSC adhesion and proliferation in the short term. Stimulation experiments revealed that MSCs electromechanically stimulated for 3 days in PVDF-CFO supports showed longer focal adhesions and decreased vimentin cytoskeletal density, both signals of early osteogenic differentiation. Furthermore, they rearranged their energy metabolism toward an osteogenic phenotype after 7 days of culture under the same stimulation. The results prove that MSCs respond to electromechanical stimulation by osteogenic differentiation., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2024 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

This work reports on the nucleation of the β-phase of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) by incorporating CoFe(2)O(4) and NiFe(2)O(4) nanoparticles, leading in this way to the preparation of magnetoelectric composites. The fraction of filler nanoparticles needed to produce the same β- to α-phase ratio in crystallized PVDF is 1 order of magnitude lower in the cobalt ferrite nanoparticles. The interaction between nanoparticles and PVDF chains induce the all-trans conformation in PVDF segments, and this structure then propagates in crystal growth. The nucleation kinetics is enhanced by the presence of nanoparticles, as corroborated by the increasing number of spherulites with increasing nanoparticle content and by the variations of the Avrami's exponent. Further, the decrease of the crystalline fraction of PVDF with increasing nanoparticle content indicates that an important fraction of polymer chains are confined in interphases with the filler particle.