Endothelial cell migration on surfaces modified with immobilized adhesive peptides

Endothelial cell (EC) migration has been studied on aminophase surfaces wit h covalently bound RGDS and YIGSRG cell adhesion peptides. The fluorescent marker dansyl chloride was used to quantify the spatial distribution of the peptides on the modified surfaces. Peptides appeared to be distributed in uniformly dispersed large clusters separated by areas of lower peptide conc entrations. We employed digital time-lapse video microscopy and image analy sis to monitor EC migration on the modified surfaces and to reconstruct the cell trajectories. The persistent random walk model was then applied to an alyze the cell displacement data and compute the mean root square speed, th e persistence time, and the random motility coefficient of EC. We also calc ulated the time-averaged speed of cell locomotion. No differences in the sp eed of cell locomotion on the various substrates were noted. Immobilization of the cell adhesion peptides (RGDS and YIGSRG), however, significantly in creased the persistence of cell movement and, thus, the random motility coe fficient. These results suggest that immobilization of cell adhesion peptid es on the surface of implantable biomaterials may lead to enhanced endothel ization rates. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.