The effect of a cholesterol liquid crystalline structure on osteoblast cell behavior.

To investigate the effect of a liquid crystalline structure on cell behavior, polymethylsiloxane-graft-(10-cholesteryloxydecanol) was specially designed to get a thermotropic liquid crystalline polymer. Results of Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) spectroscopy and gel permeation chromatography (GPC) indicated that cholesterol was successfully covalently grafted onto polymethylhydrosiloxane via decamethylene 'flexible spacer'. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and polarized optical microscopy (POM) investigations revealed that the copolymer with 44.9% mesogenic unit showed obvious thermotropic liquid crystalline transition at about 124.9 degrees C. Polymer films were prepared by spin coating on clean glass plates from 5 mg ml(-1) toluene solutions of the copolymers. The POM investigation indicated that while the unannealed films (SC15, SC45) showed no liquid crystalline structure, the films which were annealed in vacuo at 140 degrees C for 9 h and then quenched to room temperature (SC15C, SC45C) formed discrete island-like liquid crystalline and continuous liquid crystalline structures, respectively. Osteoblast cells (MC3T3) were chosen to test the cell behavior of annealed and unannealed films. In comparison to unannealed films, the annealed films with a cholesterol liquid crystalline structure could promote osteoblast cell attachment and growth significantly.