Enhanced adhesion of osteoblastic cells on polystyrene films by independent control of surface topography and wettability.

We independently controlled surface topography and wettability of polystyrene (PS) films by CF4 and oxygen plasma treatments, respectively, to evaluate the adhesion and proliferation of human fetal osteoblastic (hFOB) cells on the films. Among the CF4 plasma-treated PS films with the average surface roughness ranging from 0.9 to 70 nm, the highest adhesion of hFOB cells was observed on a PS film with roughness of ~11 nm. When this film was additionally treated by oxygen plasma to provide a hydrophilic surface with a contact angle less than 10°, the proliferation of bone-forming cell was further enhanced. Thus, the plasma-based independent modification of PS film into an optimum nanotexture for human osteoblast cells could be appplied to materials used in bone tissue engineering.