title: Lubricin: a versatile, biological anti-adhesive with properties comparable to polyethylene glycol.
abstract: Lubricin is a glycoprotein found in articular joints which has been recognized as being an important biological boundary lubricant molecule. Besides providing lubrication, we demonstrate, using a quartz crystal microbalance, that lubricin also exhibits anti-adhesive properties and is highly effective at preventing the non-specific adsorption of representative globular proteins and constituents of blood plasma. This impressive anti-adhesive property, combined with lubricin's ability to readily self-assemble to form dense, highly stable telechelic polymer brush layers on virtually any substrates, and its innate biocompatibility, makes it an attractive candidate for anti-adhesive and anti-fouling coatings. We show that coatings of lubricin protein are as effective as, or better than, self-assembled monolayers of polyethylene glycol over a wide range of pH and that this provides a simple, versatile, highly stable, and highly effective method of controlling unwanted adhesion to surfaces.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Frontier Materials, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, 3125, Australia. Electronic address: wren.greene@deakin.edu.au.
authors.forename: George W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Greene
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, Monash University, Clayton, 3800, Australia.
authors.forename: Lisandra L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, Monash University, Clayton, 3800, Australia.
authors.forename: Rico F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Tabor
authors.affiliation: School of Life and Environmental Science, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, 3125, Australia.
authors.forename: Agnes
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Michalczyk
authors.affiliation: School of Life and Environmental Science, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, 3125, Australia.
authors.forename: Leigh M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Ackland
authors.affiliation: Institute of Frontier Materials, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, 3125, Australia.
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Horn
mesh_terms: D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000737:chemistry*; D058525:Quartz Crystal Microbalance Techniques; D000099158:Proteoglycan 4
chemical_list: D006023:Glycoproteins; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; D000099158:Proteoglycan 4
keywords: Anti-adhesion; Biofouling; Lubricin; Non-specific binding; Quartz crystal microbalance; Surface treatment