SYNTHESIS AND IN VITRO/IN VIVO RESPONSE TO PEPTIDEPOLYMER CONJUGATES - Biologically-Responsive Hybrid Biomaterials - page 124

3.3. Peptide conjugated synthetic polymers

Polymers can offer a practical and chemically and mechanically controllable
option for biomedical applications, and polymers such as poly(dimethylsiloxane)
(PDMS) have been widely used in the clinical setting, including surgical
implants and catheters [34,35]. PDMS elastomers, with good compatibility with
the human tissue and biological innertness, and excellent elasticity and
transparency, are widely applied as surgical implants and catheters. However,
though they are biocompatible and resist bacterial growth, these silicone
elastomers do not support cell adhesion, a critical process in wound healing.

Fig. 11. Fluorescence microscopy images of human skin fibroblasts cultured on a RGD-conjugated
PDMS substrate. The cells contain bundles of stress fibers (solid arrows), and their focal adhesions
are also clearly seen (blank arrows). The cells were fixed and stained after 2 days in culture; Scale
bar, 20 Ⱥ m [36].

RGD-PDMS

Sulfo-SANPAH-PDMS

*

TCPS

100 120 140 160 180 200

Normalized Collagen Production ( Ⱥ g/ml)

Fig. 12. Total soluble collagen production by human skin fibroblasts cultured on RGD-conjugated
PDMS, sulfo-SANPAH activated PDMS surface (without RGD conjugation) and TCPS. Collagen
concentrations are normalized to cell number *p<0.01 (adapted from [36]).

Li and others attempted to merge the excellent elasticity of the material with
cell adhesion promoting properties by conjugating the bioadhesive peptide