Morphological change of fibroblast cells on titanium and platinum cultured at anodic and cathodic potentials

To understand cellular response against applied potential on different electrode materials, cell morphology and cell coverage of murine fibroblast L929 cultured on Ti and Pt electrodes were examined. Anodic and cathodic potentials were applied on Ti and Pt using a potentiostat. At the anodic potentials of 800 and 950 mV vs. Ag/AgCl, no cells kept a normal shape on both Ti and Pt. At the cathodic potential of - 350 mV, the cells on Ti were normally extended; whereas some of the cells on Pt were aggregated or round. At - 1000 mV, the cells had spherical shape on Ti, while the Pt surface was covered by white precipitates with no cell remained. The change in cell morphology and the decrease in coverage at anodic potentials were significantly larger than those at the cathodic potentials. The morphological change of L929 on Ti was rather smaller than that on Pt at the same potentials, which is probably because the electric filed around the cells on Ti is smaller than that on Pt owing to the surface oxide film on Ti. These facts indicate that the cell response to the applied potential depends on the azimuth of electric field and electrode materials.