title: Cell adhesion on a polymerized peptide-amphiphile monolayer.
abstract: We report the synthesis and characterization of a stable polymerized monolayer of peptide-amphihiles on a planar solid support that promotes mouse fibroblast cell adhesion and spreading. Peptide-amphiphiles consisting of a polymerizable fatty acid attached to a short RGD containing peptide sequence are self-assembled and polymerized at the water-air interface by means of the Langmuir- Blodgett technique. The surface concentration of the peptide-amphiphile is varied by co-spreading the peptide-amphiphile with an analogous non-modified polymerizable amphiphile at the water/air interface, prior to UV light-induced polymerization. The polymerized monolayer is transferred onto a hydrophobized smooth mica surface and the resulting surfaces have been investigated with respect to directing the cell adhesion and spreading of mouse fibroblast cells in a serum-free medium. Fibroblast cells adhere and spread on surfaces exposing the bioactive ligand but do not spread on reference surfaces without peptide. We find a maximum number of adherent cells at rather high peptide surface concentrations of about 10 mol% in the mixed monolayer, equivalent to more than 50 pmol/cm2 peptide on the surface of the film. We attribute this finding to a limited accessibility of the ligands by the integrins. Because of the stability of the polymerized peptide-amphiphile monolayer, these surfaces can be re-seeded multiple times with cells, i.e. adherent cells can be removed from the surface, the surface can be sterilized and cells can be re-attached.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Materials Research Laboratory (MRL) and the Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA. biesalsk@imtek.de
authors.forename: Markus A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Biesalski
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Knaebel
authors.forename: Raymond
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tu
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tirrell
mesh_terms: D000538:Aluminum Silicates; D000818:Animals; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000502:physiology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D009842:Oligopeptides; D013501:Surface-Active Agents
chemical_list: D000538:Aluminum Silicates; D009842:Oligopeptides; D013501:Surface-Active Agents; C011934:mica