No abstract

Understanding the interaction of adsorbed or covalently immobilized proteins with solid substrates at the molecular level guides the successful design of functionalized surfaces used in biomedical applications. In this report, neutron reflectometry (NR) was used to characterize the structure of surface-attached antimicrobial protein films, with antimicrobial activity assessed using an adaption of the Japanese Industrial Standard Test JIS Z 2801. NR allowed parameters influencing bioactivity to be measured at nanometer resolution and for conclusions about structural characteristics relating to bioactivity to be drawn. Hydramacin-1 (HM-1) and lysozyme were covalently attached to poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) films in the presence and absence of a four-unit poly(ethylene glycol) PEG-based spacer and measured using NR, followed by antimicrobial assays. APTES-PEG-protein films were structurally unique, with a layer of 80% water directly beneath the protein layer, and were the only films that displayed antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis. The hydration content of these films combined with the subtle difference in the PEG layer thickness of APTES versus PMMA films played a role in defining antimicrobial activity of the prepared surface coatings.

The authors present surface engineering modifications through chemistry of poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) that have dramatic effects on the result of surface-bound fluorescence immunoassays, both for specific and nonspecific signals. The authors deduce the most important effect to be clustering of antibodies on the surface leading to significant self-quenching. Secondary effects are attributable to the formation of sparse multilayers of antibody. The authors compare PMMA as an antibody support surface with ultraviolet-ozone oxidized PMMA and also to substrates that were, after the oxidation, surface modified by a four-unit poly(ethyleneglycol) carboxylic acid (PEG), a branched tricarboxylic acid, and a series of carboxylic acid-terminated dendrimers, from generation 1.5 to 5.5. Fluorescence immunoassay and neutron reflectometry were used to compare the apparent antibody surface loading, antigen binding and nonspecific binding on these various surfaces using anti-human IgG as a model antibody, chemically coupled to the surface by amide formation. Simple physical adsorption of the antibody on PMMA resulted in a thick antibody multilayer with small antigen binding capacity. On the carboxylated surfaces, with chemical coupling, a simple monolayer was formed. The authors deduce that antibody clustering was driven by conformational inflexibility and high carboxylate density. The PEG-modified surface was the most conformationally flexible. The dendrimer-modified interfaces showed a collapse and densification. In fluorescence immunoassay, the optimal combination of high specific and low nonspecific fluorescence signal was found for the G3.5 dendrimer.