Quantitative interrogation of micropatterned biomolecules by surface forcemicroscopy

Synthetic biomaterials are widely used in medical implants with success in improving and extending quality of life. However, these materials were not originally designed to interact with cells through specific signaling pathw ays. As a result, the interaction with the body is mediated through passive adsorption of a disorganized protein monolayer. Next generation biomateria ls have been proposed to be active in modifying the biological response of the host through the incorporation of specific biorecognition moieties. An important tool in the development of these novel active biomaterials is the scanning force microscope (SFM). The SFM allows for interrogation of bioac tive biomaterials in mapping or spectroscopic modes. In this work, micropat terned protein surfaces were prepared using biomolecules implicated in woun d healing. The surfaces were imaged via SFM and the specific binding forces between surface associated biomolecules and antibody functionalized tips w ere quantified. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights rese rved.