scholarly journals Designing nanostructured block copolymer surfaces to control protein adhesion

Author(s):  
Scott R. Schricker ◽  
Manuel L. B. Palacio ◽  
Bharat Bhushan

The profile and conformation of proteins that are adsorbed onto a polymeric biomaterial surface have a profound effect on its in vivo performance. Cells and tissue recognize the protein layer rather than directly interact with the surface. The chemistry and morphology of a polymer surface will govern the protein behaviour. So, by controlling the polymer surface, the biocompatibility can be regulated. Nanoscale surface features are known to affect the protein behaviour, and in this overview the nanostructure of self-assembled block copolymers will be harnessed to control protein behaviour. The nanostructure of a block copolymer can be controlled by manipulating the chemistry and arrangement of the blocks. Random, A–B and A–B–A block copolymers composed of methyl methacrylate copolymerized with either acrylic acid or 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate will be explored. Using atomic force microscopy (AFM), the surface morphology of these block copolymers will be characterized. Further, AFM tips functionalized with proteins will measure the adhesion of that particular protein to polymer surfaces. In this manner, the influence of block copolymer morphology on protein adhesion can be measured. AFM tips functionalized with antibodies to fibronectin will determine how the surfaces will affect the conformation of fibronectin, an important parameter in evaluating surface biocompatibility.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelina Soccio ◽  
Nadia Lotti ◽  
Andrea Munari ◽  
Esther Rebollar ◽  
Daniel E Martínez-Tong

<p>Nanostructured wrinkles were developed on fully bio-based poly(trimethylene furanoate) (PTF) films by using the technique of Laser Induced Periodic Surface Structures (LIPSS). We investigated the effect of irradiation time on wrinkle formation using an UV pulsed laser source, at a fluence of 8 mJ/cm2. It was found that the pulse range between 600 and 4800 pulses allowed formation of periodic nanometric ripples. The nanostructured surface was studied using a combined macro- and nanoscale approach. We evaluated possible physicochemical changes taking place on the polymer surface after irradiation by infrared spectroscopy, contact angle measurements and atomic force microscopy. The macroscopic physicochemical properties of PTF showed almost no changes after nanostructure formation, differently from the results previously found for the terephthalic counterparts, as poly(ethyleneterephthalate), PET, and poly(trimethyleneterephthalate), PTT. The surface mechanical properties of the nanostructured PTF were found to be improved, as evidenced by nanomechanical force spectroscopy measurements. In particular, an increased Young’s modulus and higher stiffness for the nanostructured sample were measured. <br></p>


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Priya Prakash ◽  
Travis Lantz ◽  
Krupal P. Jethava ◽  
Gaurav Chopra

Amyloid plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients primarily consists of amyloid beta 1-42 (Ab42). Commercially, Ab42 is synthetized using peptide synthesizers. We describe a robust methodology for expression of recombinant human Ab(M1-42) in Rosetta(DE3)pLysS and BL21(DE3)pLysS competent E. coli with refined and rapid analytical purification techniques. The peptide is isolated and purified from the transformed cells using an optimized set-up for reverse-phase HPLC protocol, using commonly available C18 columns, yielding high amounts of peptide (~15-20 mg per 1 L culture) in a short time. The recombinant Ab(M1-42) forms characteristic aggregates similar to synthetic Ab42 aggregates as verified by western blots and atomic force microscopy to warrant future biological use. Our rapid, refined, and robust technique to purify human Ab(M1-42) can be used to synthesize chemical probes for several downstream in vitro and in vivo assays to facilitate AD research.


2017 ◽  
Vol 90 (3) ◽  
pp. 550-561 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prithwiraj Mandal ◽  
Siva Ponnupandian ◽  
Soumyadip Choudhury ◽  
Nikhil K. Singha

ABSTRACT Thiol-ene modification of high vinyl content thermoplastic elastomeric styrene butadiene styrene (SBS) block copolymer (BCP) was carried out using different thiolating agents in toluene at 70 °C. 1H NMR analysis confirmed the participation of vinyl double bond in the thiol-ene modification reaction of SBS. Surface morphology of the block copolymers evaluated by atomic force microscopy analysis showed higher roughness after the thiol-ene reaction. The thiol-modified SBS block copolymer showed better adhesion strength and oil resistance properties than the pristine SBS.


Life ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 515
Author(s):  
Andrea Cugno ◽  
Alex Marki ◽  
Klaus Ley

Leukocytes, including neutrophils, which are propelled by blood flow, can roll on inflamed endothelium using transient bonds between selectins and their ligands, and integrins and their ligands. When such receptor–ligand bonds last long enough, the leukocyte microvilli become extended and eventually form thin, 20 m long tethers. Tether formation can be observed in blood vessels in vivo and in microfluidic flow chambers. Tethers can also be extracted using micropipette aspiration, biomembrane force probe, optical trap, or atomic force microscopy approaches. Here, we review the biomechanical properties of leukocyte tethers as gleaned from such measurements and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each approach. We also review and discuss viscoelastic models that describe the dependence of tether formation on time, force, rate of loading, and cell activation. We close by emphasizing the need to combine experimental observations with quantitative models and computer simulations to understand how tether formation is affected by membrane tension, membrane reservoir, and interactions of the membrane with the cytoskeleton.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 1814
Author(s):  
Plinio Mendes Senna ◽  
Carlos Fernando de Almeida Barros Mourão ◽  
Rafael Coutinho Mello-Machado ◽  
Kayvon Javid ◽  
Pietro Montemezzi ◽  
...  

Silane-coating strategy has been used to bind biological compounds to the titanium surface, thereby making implant devices biologically active. However, it has not been determined if the presence of the silane coating itself is biocompatible to osseointegration. The aim of the present study was to evaluate if silane-coating affects bone formation on titanium using a rabbit model. For this, titanium screw implants (3.75 by 6 mm) were hydroxylated in a solution of H2SO4/30% H2O2 for 4 h before silane-coating with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES). A parallel set of titanium screws underwent only the hydroxylation process to present similar acid-etched topography as a control. The presence of the silane on the surface was checked by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). A total of 40 titanium screws were implanted in the tibia of ten New Zealand rabbits in order to evaluate bone-to-implant contact (BIC) after 3 weeks and 6 weeks of healing. Silane-coated surface presented higher nitrogen content in the XPS analysis, while micro- and nano-topography of the surface remained unaffected. No difference between the groups was observed after 3 and 6 weeks of healing (p > 0.05, independent t-test), although an increase in BIC occurred over time. These results indicate that silanization of a titanium surface with APTES did not impair the bone formation, indicating that this can be a reliable tool to anchor osteogenic molecules on the surface of implant devices.


2014 ◽  
Vol 307 (10) ◽  
pp. C910-C919 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan C. Benech ◽  
Nicolás Benech ◽  
Ana I. Zambrana ◽  
Inés Rauschert ◽  
Verónica Bervejillo ◽  
...  

Stiffness of live cardiomyocytes isolated from control and diabetic mice was measured using the atomic force microscopy nanoindentation method. Type 1 diabetes was induced in mice by streptozotocin administration. Histological images of myocardium from mice that were diabetic for 3 mo showed disorderly lineup of myocardial cells, irregularly sized cell nuclei, and fragmented and disordered myocardial fibers with interstitial collagen accumulation. Phalloidin-stained cardiomyocytes isolated from diabetic mice showed altered (i.e., more irregular and diffuse) actin filament organization compared with cardiomyocytes from control mice. Sarco/endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase (SERCA2a) pump expression was reduced in homogenates obtained from the left ventricle of diabetic animals compared with age-matched controls. The apparent elastic modulus (AEM) for live control or diabetic isolated cardiomyocytes was measured using the atomic force microscopy nanoindentation method in Tyrode buffer solution containing 1.8 mM Ca2+ and 5.4 mM KCl (physiological condition), 100 nM Ca2+ and 5.4 mM KCl (low extracellular Ca2+ condition), or 1.8 mM Ca2+ and 140 mM KCl (contraction condition). In the physiological condition, the mean AEM was 112% higher for live diabetic than control isolated cardiomyocytes (91 ± 14 vs. 43 ± 7 kPa). The AEM was also significantly higher in diabetic than control cardiomyocytes in the low extracellular Ca2+ and contraction conditions. These findings suggest that the material properties of live cardiomyocytes were affected by diabetes, resulting in stiffer cells, which very likely contribute to high diastolic LV stiffness, which has been observed in vivo in some diabetes mellitus patients.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongyu Gao ◽  
James Ewen ◽  
Remco Hartkamp ◽  
Martin H. Müser ◽  
Daniele Dini

<div>Surfactant molecules, known as organic friction modifiers (OFMs), are added to lubricants to reduce friction and wear between sliding surfaces. In macroscale experiments, friction generally decreases as the coverage of OFM molecules on the sliding surfaces increases. However, recent nanoscale experiments with sharp atomic force microscopy (AFM) tips have shown increasing friction. To elucidate the origin of these opposite trends, we use nonequilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) simulations and study kinetic friction between OFM monolayers and an indenting nanoscale asperity. For this purpose, we study various coverages of stearamide OFMs on iron oxide surfaces and silica AFM tips with different radii of curvature. For our small tip radii, the friction coefficient and indentation depth both have a non-monotonic dependence on OFM surface coverage, with maxima occurring at intermediate coverage. This suggests that friction is dominated by plowing. We rationalise the non-monotonic relations through a competition of two effects (confinement and packing density) that varying the surface coverage has on the effective stiffness of the OFM monolayers. We also show that kinetic friction is not very sensitive to the sliding velocity in the range studied, indicating that it originates from instabilities. Indeed, while friction predominately originates from the plowing action of the monolayers by the leading edge of the tip, thermal dissipation is mostly localised in molecules towards the trailing edge of the tip.</div>


Microscopy ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 272-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanshu Zhang ◽  
Aiko Yoshida ◽  
Nobuaki Sakai ◽  
Yoshitsugu Uekusa ◽  
Masahiro Kumeta ◽  
...  

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