Functionalizable Antifouling Coatings as Tunable Platforms for the Stress-Driven Manipulation of Living Cell Machinery
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2020 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Biomolecules |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | https://www.mdpi.com/2218-273X/10/8/1146 |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biom10081146 |
| Keywords | zwitterionic material; cell mechanotransduction; cell signaling; functional biointerfaces; antifouling polymer brushes; surface modification |
| Description | Cells are continuously sensing their microenvironment and subsequently respond to different physicochemical cues by the activation or inhibition of different signaling pathways. To study a very complex cellular response, it is necessary to diminish background environmental influences and highlight the particular event. However, surface-driven nonspecific interactions of the abundant biomolecules from the environment influence the targeted cell response significantly. Yes-associated protein (YAP) translocation may serve as a marker of human hepatocellular carcinoma (Huh7) cell responses to the extracellular matrix and surface-mediated stresses. Here, we propose a platform of tunable functionable antifouling poly(carboxybetain) (pCB)-based brushes to achieve a molecularly clean background for studying arginine, glycine, and aspartic acid (RGD)-induced YAP-connected mechanotransduction. Using two different sets of RGD-functionalized zwitterionic antifouling coatings with varying compositions of the antifouling layer, a clear correlation of YAP distribution with RGD functionalization concentrations was observed. On the other hand, commonly used surface passivation by the oligo(ethylene glycol)-based self-assembled monolayer (SAM) shows no potential to induce dependency of the YAP distribution on RGD concentrations. The results indicate that the antifouling background is a crucial component of surface-based cellular response studies, and pCB-based zwitterionic antifouling brush architectures may serve as a potential next-generation easily functionable surface platform for the monitoring and quantification of cellular processes. |
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