Ligand effect on cell and bacterial adhesion

Abstract

The pathogenesis of infections is due to adhesion of bacteria onto biomaterial surfaces. Surface modification would provide these materials with multiple coating functions such as anti-adhesive, antimicrobial, antibacterial and biocide. The modified surfaces exhibit reduced bacterial and cell adhesion. The lack of interactions between cells and biomaterial surfaces is also another cause for foreign body reactions. Cell-recognition motives, such as RGD and collagen, could be immbolised to facilitate cell adhesion.

In this study, the layer-by-layer technique was used to fabricate the anti-adhesive dextran sulfate/chitosan polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) assembly. RGD and collagen were then grafted onto the PEM. The effect of RGD and collagen on cell adhesion was investigated through 3T3 fibroblast cell seeding. In addition, the abilities of these protein-coated surfaces on Escherichia coli (E. coli) Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) adhesion were studied.

The results showed that the PEM without proteins, exhibited effective anti-adhesive ability, inhibiting both cell and bacterial adhesion. RGD-grafted surfaces were shown to have enhanced the adherence of cells, while successfully impeded the adhesion of E. coli and S.aureus. Collagen-grafted surfaces, on the other hand, showed significant adhesion to both cell and S. aureus, while inhibited the adhesion of E. coli.