title: Engineered lysozyme amyloid fibril networks support cellular growth and spreading.
abstract: Fibrous networks assembled from synthetic peptides are promising candidates for biomimetic cell culture platforms and implantable biomaterials. The ability of the materials to reproduce physiological cell-matrix interactions is essential. However, the synthetic complexity of such systems limits their applications, thus alternative materials are desirable. Here, we design lysozyme derived amyloid fibril networks with controllable topographies, and perform a comprehensive study of the response of cultured fibroblast and epithelial cells. At high surface coverage a favorable increase in spreading and the generation of focal adhesions was observed, due to a combination of biomimetic chemistry and morphology. Their ease of synthesis, makes the nanoscale fibrils presented here ideal materials for future clinical applications whereby large volumes of biomimetic biomaterials are required. Furthermore, the surface chemistry of the fibrils is sufficient for the promotion of focal adhesions with cultured cells, eliminating the need for complex protocols for fibril decoration with bioactive moieties.
authors.affiliation: CSIRO, Materials Science and Engineering, Private Bag 10, Bayview Avenue, Clayton, Victoria 3169, Australia.
authors.forename: Nicholas P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Reynolds
authors.forename: Mirren
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Charnley
authors.forename: Raffaele
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mezzenga
authors.forename: Patrick G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Hartley
mesh_terms: D000682:Amyloid / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D040761:Biomimetic Materials / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D002465:Cell Movement; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002470:Cell Survival; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000737:chemistry / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000737:chemistry / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D009113:Muramidase / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D015202:Protein Engineering
chemical_list: D000682:Amyloid; C421864:hen egg lysozyme; D009113:Muramidase