The polymer polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is widely used to build microfluidic devices compatible with cell culture. Whilst convenient in manufacture, PDMS has the disadvantage that it can absorb small ...molecules such as drugs. In microfluidic devices like “Organs-on-Chip”, designed to examine cell behavior and test the effects of drugs, this might impact drug bioavailability. Here we developed an assay to compare the absorption of a test set of four cardiac drugs by PDMS based on measuring the residual non-absorbed compound by High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). We showed that absorption was variable and time dependent and not determined exclusively by hydrophobicity as claimed previously. We demonstrated that two commercially available lipophilic coatings and the presence of cells affected absorption. The use of lipophilic coatings may be useful in preventing small molecule absorption by PDMS.
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•Binding of different compounds to PDMS varies greatly.•Previous reported correlations of absorption and LogP values could not be repeated.•Topological polar surface area possibly related to compound absorption.•A lipid based coating partially obviates compound absorption.•Presence of cultured cells affects free drug concentration, but less than substrate.
In this communication we report for the first time the use of azobenzene modified glycoconjugates to establish optical control over bioactive ligands at a supramolecular β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) ...surface. Several studies were conducted to investigate the photoresponsive immobilization of proteins and bacteria on these supramolecular surfaces.
We report successful and selective dual protein assembly on patterned bifunctional βCD-Ni(ii)NTA surfaces, using red fluorescent protein variants with hexahistidine-tags and teal fluorescent protein ...variants conjugated with a peptide containing three adamantyl groups. We show that dual protein patterns can only be assembled, when opposing supramolecular interactions have been optimized and nonspecific interactions have been sufficiently suppressed.
Combining conjugated poylmers and TiO2 in hybrid bulk‐heterojunctions is a promising method for producing novel solar cells. Here TiO2 is introduced into a poly(p‐phenylene vinylene) layer. ...Nanometer‐scale phase separation allows efficient photoinduced charge transfer between the two components. The films can be used as the active layer in a photovoltaic cell and provide external quantum efficiencies of up to 11 % (see Figure).
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The administration of soluble growth factors (GFs) to injured tendons and ligaments (T/L) is known to promote and enhance the healing process. However, the administration of GFs is a ...complex, expensive and heavily-regulated process and only achieved by employing supraphysiological GF concentrations. In addition, for proper healing, specific and spatial immobilization of the GFs (s) is critical. We hypothesized that biomaterials functionalized with GF-binding peptides can be employed to capture endogenous GFs in a spatially-controlled manner, thus overcoming the need for the exogenous administration of supraphysiological doses of GFs. Here we demonstrate that the modification of films of polycaprolactone (PCL) with transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1)-binding peptides allows GFs to be captured and presented to the target cells. Moreover, using a TGF-β reporter cell line and immunocytochemistry, we show that the GFs retained their biological activity. In human primary tendon cells, the immobilized TGF-β1 activated TGF-β target genes ultimately lead to a 2.5-fold increase in total collagen matrix production. In vivo implantation in rats clearly shows an accumulation of TGF-β1 on the polymer films functionalized with the TGF-β1-binding peptide when compared with the native films. This accumulation leads to an increase in the recruitment of inflammatory cells at day 3 and an increase in the fibrogenic response and vascularization around the implant at day 7. The results herein presented will endow current and future medical devices with novel biological properties and by doing so will accelerate T/L healing.
Our study describes the possibility to deliver hTGF-β1 to human derived hamstring cells using a non-covalent bioactive strategy. The significance of our results in vivo with our functionalized biomaterial with TGF-β1-binding peptides lies in the fact that these materials can now be employed to capture endogenous TGF-β1 in a spatially-controlled manner, overcoming the need for exogenous administration of supra-physiological TGF-β1 doses. Our method is different from current solutions that rely on global TGF-β1 administration, soaking the devices with TGF-β1, etc. Therefore we believe that our method is a significant change from current state-of-the-art in the types of devices that are used for ligament/tendon repair and that following our method can endow current and future medical devices with TGF-β1 binding properties.
Mono- and bifunctional oligo(p-phenylene vinylene)s (OPVs) functionalized with ureido-s-triazine units have been synthesized and fully characterized. In chloroform monofunctional OPV derivatives ...dimerize with a dimerization constant of K dim = (2.1 ± 0.3) × 104 L/mol, while bifunctional OPV derivatives are present as random coil polymers in this solvent. In more apolar solvents such as dodecane, the hydrogen-bonded dimers of the monofunctional OPV derivative aggregate in chiral stacks, as can be concluded from UV/vis, fluorescence and CD spectroscopy. Temperature-dependent measurements show a first-order transition at 53 ± 3 °C from the aggregated state to the molecularly dissolved phase. The bifunctional derivative also aggregates in dodecane; however, based on CD measurements, these aggregates are less organized. This behavior is presumably the outcome of a competition between favorable π−π interactions and restricted conformational freedom, due to the hexyl spacer, which results in a frustrated supramolecular polymeric stack. The length of these polymers as well as the chiral order in the assemblies can be controlled by the addition of monofunctional OPV derivatives.
The degree of circular polarization in the absorption of light by a thermally annealed film of chirally substituted polyfluorene depends strongly on the film thickness. This indicates that the ...exceptionally high dissymmetry ratios observed for these films originate on a nanoscopic level and are related to the long‐range correlation in the polymer chain orientation. Circular polarizations (see Figure) of up to 50 % can be reached.
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