Modification of surfaces with cell adhesion peptides alters extracellular matrix deposition

The goal of the current study was to evaluate matrix protein synthesis by c ells cultured on materials that had been modified with cell adhesion ligand s. We examined the effects of surface peptide density and of peptides with different affinities on the extracellular matrix production of smooth muscl e cells, endothelial cells and fibroblasts. While initial adhesion was grea test on the higher density peptide surfaces, all cell types exhibited decre ased matrix production on the more highly adhesive surfaces. Similarly, whe n different peptides were evaluated, matrix production was the lowest on th e most adhesive surface and highest on the least adhesive surface. These re sults suggest that extracellular matrix synthesis may be regulated, to some extent, by signal transduction initiated by adhesion events. This may pose limitations for use of bioactive materials as tissue engineering scaffolds , as matrix production is an important aspect of tissue formation. However, it may be possible to increase matrix production on highly adhesive surfac es using exogenous factors. TGF-beta was shown to increase matrix productio n by both smooth muscle cells and endothelia cells. (C) 1999 Elsevier Scien ce Ltd. All rights reserved.