Growth of endothelial cells on different concentrations of Gly-Arg-Gly-Aspphotochemically grafted in polyethylene glycol modified polyurethane

To improve endothelial cell adhesion and growth on the surface of polyethyl ene glycol modified polyurethane (PU-PEG), cell adhesive peptide Gly-Arg-Gl y-Asp (GRGD) was photochemically grafted to the surface. The surface grafte d GRGD-N-Succinimidyl-6-[4'-azido-2'-nitrophenylamino]hexanoate (SANPAH) on a PU-PEG surface was performed by adsorption and subsequent ultraviolet ir radiation. Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR) and electron spectrosc opy for chemical analysis (ESCA) confirmed the GRGD grafted to form a PU-PE G-GRGD surface. The composition fraction of nitrogen calculated from ESCA a nalysis for the PU-PEG-GRGD surface was well correlated with the concentrat ion of GRGD to be immobilized. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (ECs) were well adhered and growing on the PU-PEG-GRGD surface. Moreover, the vi ability of ECs growing on PU-PEG-GRGD surfaces, analyzed by MTT test, was a lso well correlated with the GRGD concentrations immobilized on the surface . With photochemical techniques, we could manipulate different contents of GRGD to form multiple regions of PU-PEG-GRGD surface that could enhance the growth of ECs on the surface, and the enhancement efficiency was well corr elated with GRGD contents.