Lipid-mediated protein functionalization of electrospun polycaprolactone fibers
C. Cohn, S. L. Leung, J. Crosby, B. Lafuente, Z. Zha, W. Teng, R. Downs, X. Wu
Vol. 10., No.5., Pages 430-437, 2016
DOI: 10.3144/expresspolymlett.2016.40
DOI: 10.3144/expresspolymlett.2016.40
Corresponding author: X. Wu 
GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT
In this study, electrospun polycaprolactone (PCL) fibers are plasma-treated and chemically conjugated with cholesteryl succinyl silane (CSS). In addition to Raman spectroscopy, an immobilization study of DiO as a fluorescent probe of lipid membranes provides evidence supporting the CSS coating of plasma-treated PCL fibers. Further, anti-CD20 antibodies are used as a model protein to evaluate the potential of lipid-mediated protein immobilization as a mechanism to functionalize the CSS-PCL fiber scaffolds. Upon anti-CD20 functionalization, the CSS-PCL fiber scaffolds capture Granta-22 cells 2.4 times more than the PCL control does, although the two fiber scaffolds immobilize a comparable amount of anti-CD20. Taken together, results from the present study demonstrate that the CSS coating and CSS-mediated antibody immobilization offers an appealing strategy to functionalize electrospun synthetic polymer fibers and confer cell-specific functions on the fiber scaffolds, which can be mechanically robust but often lack biological functions.
