Electrospinning Protein Nanofibers to Control Cell Adhesion

• Main Author: Nwachukwu, Cynthia Chinwe
• Format: Others
• Published: Scholar Commons 2010
• Subjects: Bovine Albumin Serum; Focal Adhesion; Fibronectin; Globular Proteins; Integrins; American Studies; Arts and Humanities
• Online Access: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/1727; https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2726&context=etd

The structural and mechanical properties of a surface often play an integral part in the determination of the cell adhesion strength and design parameters for creating a biodegradable electrospun scaffold. Nanofibers composed of the globular proteins bovine serum albumin (BSA) and fibronectin were produced by electrospinning with the electrospun protein scaffold serving as an extracellular matrix to which adhesion interaction will exist with cells via cell surface integrin. This interaction is vital in regulation cell differentiation, growth and migration and cell adhesion. We will demonstrate the ability to manipulate ligand-receptor interaction, the properties of the electrospun fibers, control and the formation of focal adhesions sites in cells cultured on the fibers with the ultimate goal of developing a biomimetric scaffold to investigate how cell adhesion molecules modulate cell behavior in a 3-dimentional culture.