Parisi Ludovica, Toffoli Andrea, Bianchi Massimiliano G, Bergonzi Carlo, Bianchera Annalisa, Bettini Ruggero, Elviri Lisa, Macaluso Guido M
Centro Universitario di Odontoiatria, Università degli Studi di Parma, Via Gramsci 14, 43126 Parma, Italy.
Dipartimento di Medicina e Chirurgia, Università degli Studi di Parma, Via Gramsci 14, 43126 Parma, Italy.
Materials (Basel). 2019 Mar 8;12(5):812. doi: 10.3390/ma12050812.
A decisive step in cell-biomaterial interaction is represented by the adsorption of proteins at the interface, whose fine control may be useful to trigger proper cell response. To this purpose, we can selectively control protein adsorption on biomaterials by means of aptamers. Aptamers selected to recognize fibronectin dramatically enhance chitosan ability to promote cell proliferation and adhesion, but the underlying biological mechanism remains unknown. We supposed that aptamers contributed to ameliorate the adsorption of fibronectin in an advantageous geometrical conformation for cells, thus regulating their morphology by the proper activation of the integrin-mediated pathway. We investigated this possibility by culturing epithelial cells on chitosan enriched with increasing doses of aptamers in the presence or in the absence of cytoskeleton pharmacological inhibitors. Our results showed that aptamers control cell morphology in a dose dependent manner ( < 0.0001). Simultaneously, when the inhibition of actin polymerization was induced, the control of cell morphology was attenuated ( < 0.0001), while no differences were detected when cells contractility was challenged ( > 0.05). Altogether, our data provide evidence that aptamers contribute to control fibronectin adsorption on biomaterials by preserving its conformation and thus function. Furthermore, our work provides a new insight into a new way to accurately tailor material surface bioactivity.
细胞与生物材料相互作用的一个决定性步骤是蛋白质在界面处的吸附，对其进行精确控制可能有助于引发适当的细胞反应。为此，我们可以通过适体选择性地控制蛋白质在生物材料上的吸附。被选择用于识别纤连蛋白的适体显著增强了壳聚糖促进细胞增殖和黏附的能力，但其潜在的生物学机制仍然未知。我们推测，适体有助于改善纤连蛋白以对细胞有利的几何构象进行吸附，从而通过整联蛋白介导途径的适当激活来调节细胞形态。我们通过在存在或不存在细胞骨架药理抑制剂的情况下，在富含不同剂量适体的壳聚糖上培养上皮细胞来研究这种可能性。我们的结果表明，适体以剂量依赖性方式控制细胞形态（<0.0001）。同时，当诱导肌动蛋白聚合受到抑制时，细胞形态的控制减弱（<0.0001），而当细胞收缩性受到挑战时未检测到差异（>0.05）。总之，我们的数据提供了证据，表明适体通过保持纤连蛋白的构象从而保持其功能，有助于控制纤连蛋白在生物材料上的吸附。此外，我们的工作为精确调整材料表面生物活性的新方法提供了新的见解。
