UC Riverside

Electrical and ultrasonic stimulation have both shown great potential for promoting cell proliferation and tissue repair since piezoelectric materials can produce ultrasound with electrical stimulation and produce electrical signals with ultrasound stimulation. They can be a great option for tissue regeneration and biosensors. To evaluate the possibility of Polyhydroxybutyrate(PHB), a piezoelectric material to be used for medical use, cell experiments are carried out without any stimulation applied to the materials first to study their effects on cells. Results show that the materials do not affect the density of cells while altering the cells’ morphology which is related to the materials’ fiber structures. Since the material is cell compatible, further experiments with 3D-printing scaffolds and ultrasound stimulation can be carried out to test the effect of ultrasound and electrical stimulation on cells grown on the materials. In this thesis, we printed 6 different material groups including pure PHB scaffolds, PHB scaffolds modified with different percentages of either polyaniline (PANi) or reduced graphene oxide (rGO) to vary the materials’ piezoelectric properties. Future work will focus on using ultrasound to remotely stimulate 3-D printed Polyhydroxybutyrate(PHB) scaffolds and test their effects on cells’ proliferation.