Characterization and evaluation of chitosan matrix for in vitro growth of MCF-7 breast cancer cell lines.

Biodegradable polymer scaffolds were prepared from chitosan with varying degree of deacetylation for in vitro culture of human breast cancer MCF-7 cell lines. These polymers were characterized in terms of functional groups by FTIR and swelling properties. Polymers having high degree of deacetylation showed better swelling properties irrespective of the molecular weight. These polymers were biocompatible and non-toxic towards human epithelial MCF-7 cell lines. Attachment kinetics of MCF-7 cell lines on to polymer scaffold was investigated and it was observed that polymer having high degree of deacetylation favored better cell attachment. In CPIII polymer scaffold having 80% degree of deacetylation, a maximum of 1 millions cells per mg pf polymer were adsorbed within 1h. It appears that high swelling and high degree of deacetylation of chitosan helped in better adsorption of cancer cell lines. The cellular morphology of the attached cells on chitosan matrix was similar to that observed with regular plastic culture with the difference that, cells grew as three-dimensional clumps on chitosan matrix. Polymer having high degree of deacetylation not only favored better adsorption but also showed improved cell growth kinetics. Maximum cell concentration of 6.5 x 10(5) cells/ml was achieved in 5 days culture on CPIII polymer scaffold. The glucose consumption and lactate production pattern of the MCF-7 cell lines on chitosan polymer matrix were similar to that observed on cell growth on tissue culture flask. These results indicate that chitosan scaffold having high degree of deacetylation can be used for three-dimensional growth of MCF-7 cancer cell lines. Such in vitro 3D culture of cancer cells can thus be used as a model for the cytotoxic evaluation of anticancer drugs.