Melville Laboratory for Polymer Synthesis, Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB21EW, UK.
Biomacromolecules. 2011 Nov 14;12(11):4169-72. doi: 10.1021/bm200943m. Epub 2011 Sep 28.
Polymer brushes show great promise in next-generation antibiofouling surfaces. Here, we have studied the influence of polymer brush architecture on protein resistance. By carefully optimizing reaction conditions, we were able to polymerize oligoglycerol-based brushes with sterically demanding linear or dendronized side chains on gold surfaces. Protein adsorption from serum and plasma was analyzed by surface plasmon resonance. Our findings reveal a pronounced dependence of biofouling on brush architecture. Bulky yet flexible side chains as in dendronized brushes provide an ideal environment to repel protein-possibly through formation of a hydration layer, which can be further enhanced by presenting free hydroxyl groups on the polymer brushes. A deeper understanding of how brush architecture influences protein resistance will ultimately enable fabrication of surface coatings tailored to specific requirements in biomedical applications.
聚合物刷在下一代抗生物污染表面中具有巨大的应用潜力。在这里，我们研究了聚合物刷结构对蛋白质抗粘性的影响。通过仔细优化反应条件，我们成功地在金表面聚合了具有空间位阻的线性或树枝状侧链的寡甘油基聚合物刷。通过表面等离子体共振分析了血清和血浆中的蛋白质吸附。我们的研究结果表明，生物污染明显取决于刷的结构。在树枝状聚合物刷中，虽然侧链庞大但具有柔韧性，为排斥蛋白质提供了理想的环境，可能是通过形成水化层来实现的，而在聚合物刷上引入游离羟基基团可以进一步增强这种效果。更深入地了解刷结构如何影响蛋白质抗粘性，将最终使我们能够根据生物医学应用的特定要求来制造表面涂层。
