Biomedical subjects

John T Woodward

Publications and source records attributed to John T Woodward.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

The effect of surface chemistry on the formation of thin films of native fibrillar collagen.

In this study, we used well-defined, homogeneous, gradient and patterned substrates to explore the effects of surface chemistry on the supramolecular structure of adsorbed type I collagen. Type I collagen (320microg/mL) was allowed to adsorb onto self-assembled CH(3)-, COOH-, NH(2)- and OH-terminated alkylthiolate monolayers at 37 degrees C. Atomic force microscopy, ellipsometry and phase microscopy indicated that large supramolecular collagen fibril structures (approximately 200nm in diameter, several microns long) assembled only at the hydrophobic CH(3)-terminated surfaces. By varying the surface energy using a mixture of OH- and CH(3)-terminated thiols during monolayer formation, we found that large fibril assembly occurred at surfaces with a water contact angle above 83 degrees , but not on surfaces with a water contact angle below 63 degrees . Examining a surface with a linear hydrophobicity gradient revealed that the assembly of large collagen fibrils requires a hydrophobic surface with a water contact angle of at least 78 degrees . Collagen fibril density increased over a narrow range of surface energy and reached near-maximum density on surfaces with a water contact angle of 87 degrees . These studies confirm that the supramolecular structure of adsorbed collagen is highly dependent on the underlying substrate surface chemistry. We can take advantage of this dependency to pattern areas of fibrillar and non-fibrillar collagen on a single surface. Morphology studies with vascular smooth muscle cells indicated that only collagen films formed on hydrophobic substrates mimicked the biological properties of fibrillar collagen gels.

Adsorption↗

PubMed2005

Vascular smooth muscle cell response on thin films of collagen.

Vascular smooth muscle cells (vSMC) cultured on gels of fibrillar type I collagen or denatured collagen (gelatin) comprise a model system that has been widely used for studying the role of the extracellular matrix in vascular diseases such as hypertension, restenosis and athrosclerosis. Despite the wide use of this model system, there are several disadvantages to using collagen gels for cellular studies. These include poor optical characteristics for microscopy, difficulty in verifying that the properties of the preparations are identical from experiment to experiment, heterogeneity within the gels, and difficulty in handling the gels because they are fragile. Previously, we developed an alternative collagen matrix by forming thin films of native fibrillar collagen or denatured collagen on self-assembled monolayers of alkanethiols [Elliott, J.T., Tona, A., Woodward, J., Jones,P., Plant, A., 2003a. Thin films of collagen affect smooth muscle cell morphology. Langmuir 19, 1506-1514.]. These substrates are robust and can be characterized by surface analytical techniques that allow both verification of the reproducibility of the preparation and high-resolution analysis of collagen structure. In addition, they have excellent optical properties that allow more details of the cell-matrix interactions to be observed by microscopy. In this study, we performed a side-by-side structural and functional comparison of collagen gels with thin films of collagen. Our results indicate that vSMC on thin films of collagen are nearly identical to vSMC on thick gels as determined by morphology, proliferation rate, integrin ligation, tenascin-C expression and intracellular signaling events. These results suggest that the features of collagen gels that direct the observed vSMC responses are adequately reconstituted in the thin films of collagen. These thin films will be useful for elucidating the features of the collagen matrix that regulate vSMC response and may be applicable to high content screening.

Animals↗

PubMed2004

Surface-plasmon-resonance-enhanced cavity ring-down detection.

The cavity ring-down technique is used to probe the absolute optical response of the localized surface plasmon resonance (SPR) of a gold nanoparticle distribution to adsorption of trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE) from the gas phase. Extended Mie theory for a coated sphere with a particle-size-dependent dielectric function is used to elucidate size-dispersion effects, the size-dependence of the SPR sensitivity to adsorption, and the kinetics of adsorption. An approximate Gaussian distribution of nanospheres with a mean diameter of 4.5 nm and a standard deviation of 1.1 nm, as determined by atomic force microscopy, is provided by the intrinsic granularity of an ultrathin, gold film, having a nominal thickness of approximately 0.18 nm. The cavity ring-down measurements employ a linear resonator with an intracavity flow cell, which is formed by a pair of ultrasmooth, fused-silica optical flats at Brewster's angle, where the Au film is present on a single flat. The total system intrinsic loss is dominated by the film extinction, while the angled flats alone contribute only approximately 5 x 10(-5)/flat to the total loss. Based on a relative ring-down time precision of 0.1% for ensembles averages of 25 laser shots from a pulsed optical parametric oscillator, the minimum detectable concentrations of PCE and TCE obtained by probing the SPR response are found to be 2 and 7 x 10(-8) mol/L, respectively, based on a 30 s integration time.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2002

The role of surface free energy on the formation of hybrid bilayer membranes.

The interaction of small phospholipid vesicles with well-characterized surfaces has been studied to assess the effect of the surface free energy of the underlying monolayer on the formation of phospholipid/alkanethiol hybrid bilayer membranes (HBMs). The surface free energy was changed in a systematic manner using single-component alkanethiol monolayers and monolayers of binary mixtures of thiols. The binary surfaces were prepared on gold by self-assembly from binary solutions of the thiols HS-(CH(2))(n)()-X (n = 11, X = CH(3) or OH) in THF. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR), electrical capacitance, and atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements were used to characterize the interaction of palmitoyl,oleoyl-phosphatidylcholine (POPC) vesicles with the surfaces. For all surfaces examined, it appears that the polar part of surface energy influences the nature of the POPC assembly that associates with the surface. Comparison of optical, capacitance, and AFM data suggests that vesicles can remain intact or partially intact even at surfaces with a contact angle with water of close to 100 degrees. In addition, comparison of the alkanethiols of different chain lengths and the fluorinated compound HS-(CH(2))(2)-(CF(2))(8)-CF(3) that characterize with a low value of the polar part of the surface energy suggests that the quality of the underlying monolayer in terms of number of defects has a significant influence on the packing density of the resulting HBM layer.

Adsorption↗

PubMed2002

Cell membrane hybrid bilayers containing the G-protein-coupled receptor CCR5.

A hybrid bilayer membrane is a planar model membrane that is formed at an alkanethiol monolayer-coated gold surface by the spontaneous reorganization of phospholipid vesicles. Membrane vesicles from monkey kidney COS-1 cells also reorganize at an alkanethiol/lipid monolayer-coated surface resulting in the formation of a cell membrane hybrid bilayer. Atomic force microscopy and spectroscopic ellipsometry indicate that the cell membrane layer is equivalent to the thickness of one leaflet of the membrane and is continuous over large areas. Cell membrane hybrid bilayers were formed from membrane vesicles from COS-1 cells that were transiently transfected with a synthetic human CCR5 chemokine receptor gene. Preparations that contained "inside out" and "right side out" membrane vesicles were used. Binding of monoclonal antibodies to either the amino- or carboxyl-terminus of CCR5 was observed by surface plasmon resonance and confirmed the presence and the random orientation of these integral membrane receptors. Specific and concentration-dependent binding of the beta-chemokine RANTES to the cell membrane hybrid confirmed that CCR5 retained ligand-binding activity. The ability to form cell membrane hybrid bilayers that contain functional G-protein-coupled or other multispanning receptors without requiring protein isolation, purification, and reconstitution offers a promising method for the rapid screening of potential ligands.

Animals↗