The growth and pluripotency of mesenchymal stem cell on the biodegradable polyurethane synthesized with ferric catalyst.

Polyurethane (PU) is a class of polymers that have been applied for tissue-engineering scaffolds. Cross-linked poly(ester urethane) (CPU), synthesized with ferric catalyst in our laboratory, was modified by silk fibroin (SF) grafting using our aminolysis and glutaradehyde crosslinking method. The physical and chemical properties of the materials were investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM), atomic force microscope (AFM) and tensile tester. The results showed that SF grafted CPU possessed good strain and strength (4.29 ± 0.18 MPa/382.38 ± 0.71%). Its surface chemistry and roughness were fine to well support the growth of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSC). The cells were verified to maintain the pluripotency after they were cultured <italic>in vitro</italic> for 2 weeks, which supplied us a good technology to keep cell’s stemness but proliferate cell’s number. These results are valuable for us to further study esophageal tissue engineering with BMSC and polyurethane materials as the components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]