Enhanced Growth of Cultured Fibroblasts by a Synthetic Polyanionic Polymer

A synthetic polyanionic polymer, poly(maleic acid-alt-7,12-dioxaspiro[5,6]dodec-9-ene), exhibits mitogen-like behavior for cultured fibro-blasts. Cultures of L929 and STO fibroblasts in the presence of this polymer resulted in enhanced growth by both fibroblast cell lines. After three days, at optimum polymer concentrations, the cell numbers increased 3.7-fold for the STO cells and 1.9-fold for the L929 cells compared to the cells cultured in the same environment without the polymer. The polymer promoted this growth without any other external growth factors. This result suggests that the polymer has a direct effect on the growth of both of these fibroblast cells.