Control of neonatal human dermal fibroblast migration on poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)-coated surfaces by electrotaxis

Many types of cells respond to applied direct current electric fields (dcEFs) by directional cell migration, a phenomenon called galvanotaxis or electrotaxis. In this study, electrotaxis was used to control cell migration. We designed a new electrotaxis incubator and chamber system to facilitate long-term (> 12 h) observation and to allow for alterations to the direction of the current. Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) was coated onto surfaces to mimic a commonly used tissue-engineering scaffolding environment. Neonatal human dermal fibroblasts (nHDFs) were grown on PLGA-coated surfaces and exposed to EFs at increasing currents in the range 0–1 V/cm. These cells migrated toward the cathode during 3 h of dcEF stimulation; however, the migration speed decreased with increasing electric fields. Cells exposed to dcEFs in the range 1–2 V/cm showed no changes to migration speed or x forward migration indices (xFMIs) and the cells continued to move toward the cathode. nHDFs showed directional migration towards the cathode in direct current (dc) EFs (1 V/cm) and they moved in the opposite direction when the polarity of the dcEF was reversed. Reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton and polarization of the Golgi apparatus were evaluated by immunostaining, which showed that the actin cytoskeleton elongated towards the cathode and the Golgi apparatus polarized in the direction of the dcEF. This study revealed that cell migration could potentially be controlled on PLGA scaffolds through electrotaxis.