COMPARATIVE BIOPHYSICAL STUDY OF ADSORBED CALF SERUM, FETAL BOVINE SERUM AND MUSSEL ADHESIVE PROTEIN FILMS

Varying concentrations of different sera and adhesive agents are routi nely used to increase cellular attachment to substrata. The surface-ch emical effects of some of these surface-altering materials have been e xamined using ellipsometry, contact angle analysis and multiple-attenu ated internal reflection infrared (MAIR-IR) spectroscopy. Specifically , 15% fetal bovine serum (FBS), Ham's F-12 (containing 10% FBS + 1% pe nicillin/streptomycin), 10% calf serum ana mussel adhesive protein (MA P) were allowed to adsorb on to similar and different surfaces and the n compared. Each of these preparations is capable of altering the surf ace-chemical properties of substrata with varying resultant surface en ergies. It is therefore important to characterize serum in the proper concentrations on the substrata under consideration in order to unders tand the interfacial effects.