title: Local ultraviolet laser irradiation for gradients on biocompatible polymer surfaces.
abstract: Generation of supporting structures, which guide cell growth, is a challenging task in the field of tissue engineering. Cell guidance properties of a scaffold are important in the field of neuronal regeneration. Those guiding structures can provide guidance just by mechanical stimulus or by chemical stimuli like cell signaling molecules. For an enhanced guidance, chemical gradients are under investigation. With this study, we show that ultraviolet laser irradiation is a useful tool to activate polymer surfaces with a high temporal and spatial resolution. We demonstrated that poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and poly-ε-caprolactone (PCL) can be locally activated and functionalized with amine groups that can be used for immobilization of arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) peptide. The immobilized RGD was detected by neuronal B35 cells. By defined pulse accumulation functionalization density on the surface can be varied for the generation of gradients. We demonstrated that PMMA and PCL have different process windows for functionalization. Although PMMA has a very small process window for activation, PCL allows the generation of stepwise functionalization. The presented technology can help to develop assays for the analysis of cell migration and neuronal regeneration due to flexible patterning easily realized by changing the irradiation parameters.
authors.affiliation: Biotechnology and Laser Therapy, Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology, Steinbachstrasse 15, 52074, Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: Nadine
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nottrodt
authors.forename: Dorothea
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Leonhäuser
authors.forename: Yvonne
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bongard
authors.forename: Elke
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bremus-Köbberling
authors.forename: Arnold
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gillner
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000528:radiation effects*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D016650:Fluorescein-5-isothiocyanate / Q000737:chemistry; D007834:Lasers; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000737:chemistry; D011091:Polyesters / Q000528:radiation effects; D011094:Polyethyleneimine / Q000528:radiation effects; D011108:Polymers / Q000528:radiation effects*; D019904:Polymethyl Methacrylate / Q000528:radiation effects; D051381:Rats; D013499:Surface Properties / Q000528:radiation effects; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D009842:Oligopeptides; D011091:Polyesters; D011108:Polymers; C016240:polycaprolactone; C047981:arginyl-glycyl-aspartic acid; D011094:Polyethyleneimine; D019904:Polymethyl Methacrylate; D016650:Fluorescein-5-isothiocyanate
keywords: PMMA; RGD; UV-laser; gradient; poly-ε-caprolactone