PROTEIN ADSORPTION STUDIES ON MODEL ORGANIC-SURFACES - AN ELLIPSOMETRIC AND INFRARED SPECTROSCOPIC APPROACH

The development of accurate analytical tools to control the interfacia l properties of solid substrates is of importance for the design of ne w biomaterials, as well as for the understanding of biomolecular inter actions on surfaces. Considerable research efforts are presently devot ed to this area on different levels of molecular complexity, i.e, both in the presence and in the absence of the biomolecules. In this contr ibution we review briefly applications of infrared reflection-absorpti on spectroscopy (IRAS) and ellipsometry as tools for analysis of the c hemical properties of model surfaces, and their biological response in vitro when in contact with blood plasma or serum, respectively. The s trength of the combination of the techniques is demonstrated by determ ination of protein adsorption patterns on a series of chemically well- defined so-called self-assembled alkanethiolate monolayers (SAMs) of 1 6-thiohexadecanol (HS-(CH2)(16)-OH) and n-hexadecanethiol (HS-(CH2)(15 )-CH3) on gold. The protein adsorption patterns after incubations in p lasma were determined by the specific binding of antibodies to the sur faces. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.