Self-assembled IKVAV peptide nanofibers promote adherence of PC12 cells

Lack of biocompatibility and bioactivity is a big problem for the synthetic materials that have been generated for neural tissue engineering. To get around the problem and generate better scaffold for neural tissue repair, we intended to generate nano-fibers by self-assembly of polypeptide IKVAV. Bioactive IKVAV Peptide-Amphiphile (IKVAV-PA) was first synthesized and purified, the property of which was analyzed and determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and mass spectrometry (MS). Then, by addition of hydrogen chloride (HCl), self-assembly of IK-VAV-PA was induced in vitro and nano-fibers formed as shown by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The effect of IKVAV nanofibers on adherence of PC12 cells was assayed in cell culture and the results showed that the rates of adherence of PC12 increased significantly when the density of IKVAV was within a certain range (0.58 microg/cm2 to 15.6 microg/cm2). However, its effect on the rates of adherence did not significantly alter with time, whether after 1 hour or 3 hours of culture. In general, we showed that IKVAV-PA can successfully self-assemble to form nanofiber, and promote rapid and stable adherence of PC12 cells, and the effect of the self-assembled IKVAV to promote PC12 cells adherence is dosage-dependent within a certain range of densities.