Aix Marseille University, CNRS, CINAM , Marseille, France.
Aix Marseille University, CNRS, INSERM, LAI , Marseille, France.
Nano Lett. 2017 Jul 12;17(7):4284-4290. doi: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b01254. Epub 2017 Jun 7.
Living cells sense the physical and chemical nature of their micro/nano environment with exquisite sensitivity. In this context, there is a growing need to functionalize soft materials with micro/nanoscale biochemical patterns for applications in mechanobiology. This, however, is still an engineering challenge. Here a new method is proposed, where submicronic protein-patterns are first formed on glass and are then printed on to an elastomer. The degree of transfer is shown to be governed mainly by hydrophobic interactions and to be influenced by grafting an appropriate fluorophore onto the core protein of interest. The transfer mechanism is probed by measuring the forces of adhesion/cohesion using atomic force microscopy. The transfer of functional arrays of dots with size down to about 400 nm, on elastomers with stiffness ranging from 3 kPa to 7 MPa, is demonstrated. Pilot studies on adhesion of T lymphocytes on such soft patterned substrates are reported.
活细胞以极高的灵敏度感知其微/纳环境的物理和化学性质。在这种情况下，人们越来越需要用微/纳米级生化图案对软材料进行功能化，以便在机械生物学中应用。然而，这仍然是一个工程挑战。在这里，提出了一种新的方法，首先在玻璃上形成亚微米级的蛋白质图案，然后将其印刷到弹性体上。结果表明，转移的程度主要由疏水性相互作用控制，并受到在感兴趣的核心蛋白质上接枝适当荧光团的影响。通过原子力显微镜测量粘附/内聚的力来探测转移机制。在刚度从 3 kPa 到 7 MPa 的弹性体上，成功地转移了大小降至约 400nm 的功能点阵列。报道了关于 T 淋巴细胞在这种软图案化基底上的粘附的初步研究。
