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Published on: December 22, 2010
Tunable layer-by-layer films containing hyaluronic acid and their interactions with CD44
Sara Amorim1, Iva Pashkuleva2, Celso A Reis3
13B's Research Group, I3Bs - Research Institute on Biomaterials, Biodegradables and Biomimetics, University of Minho, Headquarters of the European Institute of Excellence on Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, AvePark, Parque de Ciência e Tecnologia, Zona Industrial da Gandra, 4805-017 Barco, Portugal. sara.amorim@i3bs.uminho.pt rpires@i3bs.uminho.pt and ICVS/3B's - PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal and The Discoveries Centre for Regenerative and Precision Medicine, Headquarters at University of Minho, Avepark, 4805-017 Barco, Guimarães, Portugal.
Abstract:
We report on the development of layer-by-layer (LbL) constructs whose viscoelastic properties and bioactivity can be finely tuned by using polyanions of different size and/or crosslinking. As a polyanion we used hyaluronic acid (HA) - a multi-signaling biomolecule whose bioactivity depends on its molecular weight. We investigated the interplay between the mechanical properties of the LbL systems built using HA of different sizes and the specific HA-mediated biochemical interactions. We characterized the assembled materials and their interactions with CD44, the main HA receptor, by Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation (QCM-D), Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). We observed that the presence of CD44 resulted in the disruption of the non-crosslinked multilayers, while crosslinked films remain stable and bind CD44 in a HA molecular weight and charge specific fashion.
