| Abstract Scope |
Mechanotransduction, the routes by which forces are transformed into chemical signals, plays a fundamental role in many biological processes. The first step of mechanotransduction often relies on exposure, under mechanical forces, of cryptic sites buried in adhesion and transmembrane proteins. Our group was the first to introduced films becoming enzymatically active under stretching by exhibiting enzymes [1]. Mimicking adhesion proteins, very recently we developed a new kind of films that become specifically interacting with proteins or adherent to cells by exhibiting interaction sites under stretching [2]. These films are based on multilayers built on silicone sheets and where RGD or biotin -grafted polyelectrolytes are embedded under anti-fouling phosphorylcholine grafted polyelectrolytes. The stretching of these films induces an increase of fibroblast cell viability and adhesion or streptavidin adsorption.[1] D. Mertz et al. Nature Materials 8, 731-735 (2008)[2]J. Davila et al. JACS 134, 83-86 (2012) |