Development of an artificial extracellular matrix. Solution castable polymers with cell recognizable peptidyl side...

This article reports a novel cell-adhesion-promoting polymeric system as an adhesive-protein model. The characteristic features of the system are that polymers have recognition sites and are solution-castable on material surfaces. These co-polymers were prepared by radical co-polymerization of styrene with peptidyl macromer, which include an Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) sequence, the minimal core peptide recognizable by cell adhesion receptors. Upon casting and subsequent immersion into water, RGD-peptide chains were enriched at the interface with water. Bovine endothelial cells (ECs) adhered to the cast surface, and adhesion was partly directed by RGD-recognition mechanisms. These co-polymers, incorporated with artificial bioactive ligands, may provide an artificial extracellular matrix (ECM) for implantable devices and hybrid organs using a conventional solution-casting technique.