Effects of attachment and proliferation of retinal pigment epithelial cells on silk/PLGA film

Biomaterials for retinal tissue engineering must demonstrate several critical features for potential utility, including mechanical integrity, biocompatibility, and slow biodegradation. Silk film biomaterials were designed and characterized to meet these functional requirements. We prepared naturalJsynthetic hybrid silk/PLGA films using 0,10, 20, 40, and 80 wt% of silk by a solvent evaporation method. MTT assay was used to confirm the number of cells attached on film at 1, 2, and 3 days, respectively. The morphology of cellular adhesion on films was also confirmed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). RT-PCR was conducted to confirm mRNA expression of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) using RPE65 as a RPEs marker and the expression of cytokeratin were determined by immunofluorescence staining. We confirmed that the silk/PLGA film of 20∼40 wt% silk was superior for the adhesion and proliferation of RPEs.