Protein-based polymers Collagen

Early in our studies it was expected that the post-translational modification of proline hydroxylation, so important to proper collagen structure and function, would raise the value of the temperature, T, for the onset of the inverse temperature transition for models of elastin. Accordingly, hydroxyproline (Hyp) was incorporated by chemical synthesis into the basic repeating sequence to give the protein-based polymers poly[fvs,i(Val-Pro-Gly-Val-Gly), fHyp( al-Hyp-Gly-Val-Gly)], where f sl -i- fnyp = 1 and values of fnyp were 0, 0.01, and 0.1. The effect of prolyl hydroxylation is shown in Figure 7.49. Replacement of proline by hydroxyproline markedly raises the temperature for hydrophobic association. Prolyl hydroxylation moves the movable cusp of... 

For fabrication of biomimetic hydrogel for biomedical and pharmaceutical applications, a range of synthetic and protein-based polymer scaffolds, such as albumin, collagen, gelatin, elastin, proteoglycan, hyaluronan, laminin, silk fibroin, soybean, fibrinogen, and fibrin have been widely used (Rajangam and An, 2013). 

The construction of chemically modified solid supports is of particular inportance in cell-based microarrays. For cell immobilisation on substrates the most commonly used method is the binding to poly-L-lysine-coated slides. Binding of cells results from ionic interactions between the cell membrane and the positively charged poly-L-lysine surface. This method is most effective for adherent cell types. To promote cell adhesion, surfaces coated with extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins such as collagen or fibronectin have also been employed. In some cases, polymer-treated surfaces are used in conjunction with the above mentioned compounds to reduce non-specific adhesion. 

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