| Nanostructured materials have shown promise to improve the interface between prosthetic devices and living cells, tissues, and organs through the ability to evoke cell type-specific and size-selective functions from various cell types of in vivo importance. However, the underlying molecular level mechanisms responsible for enhancement of select cell functions on these materials are not fully understood.; Silica particles of either 4, 20, or 100 nm diameters were successfully coated onto native-oxide coated silicon substrates in the range of 0 to 100% coverage by particles. The materials formulated and fabricated for the present study provide a controlled and characterized set of substrates needed for investigation of the effects of nanoscale features on the adsorption and conformation of proteins, and subsequent functions of mammalian cells that are critical to the clinical efficacy of biomaterials.; The size of nanoscale surface features constituted by silica nanoparticles on native oxide-coated silicon pieces affected the adhesion of rat calvarial osteoblasts and rat skin fibroblasts differently. It was also demonstrated, for the first time, that a threshold density of nanoscale surface features is necessary to elicit size-selective, and cell type-specific, adhesion from osteoblasts or fibroblasts.; Adsorption of fibronectin and vitronectin onto native oxide-coated silicon surfaces decorated with either 4, 20, or 100 nm diameter silica particles at either 25, 45, or 80% surface coverage was quantified and examined by scanning electron microscopy. Circular dichroism spectroscopy provided evidence that the secondary structures of fibronectin in the presence of either 4 or 20 nm diameter particles were similar, but fibronectin exhibited decreased beta sheet content and increased unordered structure in the presence of 100 nm particles. The secondary structure of vitronectin in the presence of silica particles exhibited similar levels of structure loss for all particle sizes examined.; For the first time, this study offers insight into a molecular mechanism that is linked to nanostructured material surface feature size through quantified changes in protein structure and cell adhesion behavior. These results provide an explanation of the molecular level events occurring on nanostructured material surfaces that contribute to protein-mediated size-selective and cell type-specific responses of various cell types. |
