3.9. Serum supplemented scaffolds greatly increased
cytotoxicity
DPSCs cultured for 24h in serum-free media on all graphene-based
scaffolds caused no significant increases in cytotoxicity levels
compared to cell only (2D) control, irrespective of coating conditions
(Fig. 8a). The data also indicated significantly lower cell toxicity of
PLL+LAM-coated RGOSA1 scaffolds (1.81%±3.57), compared to no scaffold
condition. Furthermore, quantitative LDH activity measurements (Fig. 8b)
showed no significant differences after 24 hours between all 3D
graphene-based scaffolds seeded with DPSCs using serum-containing media,
when compared to 2D control. These cytotoxic effects were not influenced
by coating conditions. However, the percentage of cytotoxic effects of
PLL+LAM-coated SA scaffolds (24.83%±4.77) was the highest amongst other
scaffolds assessed across all coating conditions.
There are no significant increases in the percentage of cell toxicity of
DPSCs exposed to coated and uncoated GOSA and RGOSA scaffolds in
comparison to the 2D control (Fig. 8c). However, after 48 h of cell
culture, a significant elevation of LDH release was detected when DPSCs
were cultured on SA scaffolds with serum deprivation, with the highest
cell toxicity percentage of 36.22%±1.26 for PLL+LAM coating. The cell
toxicity percentage of almost all samples tested with no serum was found
to have increased in comparison to the corresponding conditions at the
24 h time point. In addition, when DPSCs in serum-rich media were seeded
onto fabricated 3D scaffolds, cell toxicity of scaffolds increased
significantly in comparison with no scaffold culture, regardless of
coating conditions (Fig. 8d). After 48h of DPSCs culture with serum,
cell cytotoxicity was the highest in SA (20.78%±2.95), GOSA1
(16.95%±3.38), and RGOSA1 (16.43%±3.58) matrices coated with PLL.
Furthermore, at 48 h of cell culture with serum, the cell toxicity
percentage of all evaluated samples was reduced when compared with the
corresponding 24 h time point.