Biocompatibility of Polyhydroxyalkanoates Synthesized by Bacillus cereus BMH

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are biological polyesters synthesized by many bacteria. The polyesters became the focus of research because of their biodegradability, biocompatibility and the similar physical and chemical properties to those of petroleum derived plastics. A gram-positive strain was isolated from domesticated activated sludge and identified as Bacillus cereus BMH. B. cereus BMH can synthesize PHAs using a wide range of carbon sources. After 36h cultivation in shaken flasks, cell dry-weight was 5.31g/l, PHAs content was 61.2% of cell dry weight which is higher than some other B. cereus reported. The PHAs films showed irregular porous structure under scanning electron microscopy. Biocompatibility of the polyester was evaluated in detail in this article. The polymer was proved of good biocompatibility through Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Fluorescence microscopy observation and CCK-8 assay. It was indicated that the biological polymer had desirable material properties as tissue engineering biomaterials