Cellular interactions drive physiological function, whether that be interactions between cells and other cells, cells and proteins, or cells and the extracellular matrix. Damage or disease to any one of these cellular components can interfere with normal biological functioning. The ability to study single cell interactions on a molecular level can enhance our current understanding of physiological cellular communication. Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) provide a flexible system for studying these single cell interactions. SAMs are orderly molecular assemblies formed through chemisorption of an adsorbate molecule onto a substrate of interest. Functionalization of the adsorbate molecule with a short peptide sequence specific for the ligand of interest allows the physical and chemical properties of the SAM to be tailored toward the study of specific cells and their interactions. The flexibility in modifying the substrate material and the peptide sequence makes this technique useful for a wide range of applications. In our study, we characterize the interactions between a neural prosthetic and the cellular components of the brain, <i>in vitro,</i> by modifying the surface-adsorbed SAM with a peptide specific for the binding of a cellular component of the central nervous system. Specifically, peptide-terminated self-assembled monolayers for the selective binding of astrocytes on zinc selenide were studied and characterized using infrared spectroscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and static contact angles.

Self-assembled monolayers on zinc selenide for use in <i>in vitro </i>cellular studies

251st National Meeting (2016)

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Self-assembled monolayers on zinc selenide for use in in vitro cellular studies