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Two peptide-derived low-molecular-weight gelators bearing different capping groups, 9-fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl (Fmoc) and phenothiazine, were synthesized and their gel networks were characterized. The variation of the N-terminal capping group affects the viability of these hydrogels as a three-dimensional cell culture for multicellular tumor spheroids. These results indicate that the phenothiazine capping group is a more biocompatible alternative to the widely used Fmoc moiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful engineering of a tissue-incorporated vascular prosthesis requires cells to proliferate and migrate on the scaffold. Here, we report on a series of “ECM-like” biomimetic surfactant polymers that exhibit quantitative control over the proliferation and migrational properties of human microvascular endothelial cells (HMVEC). The biomimetic polymers consist of a poly(vinyl amine) (PVAm) backbone with hexanal branches and varying ratios of cell binding peptide (RGD) to carbohydrate (maltose). Proliferation and migration behavior of HMVEC was investigated using polymers containing RGD: maltose ratios of 100:0, 75:25 and 50:50, and compared with fibronectin (FN) coated glass (1 μg/cm2). A radial Teflon fence migration assay was used to examine HMVEC migration at 12 h intervals over a 48 h period. Migration was quantified using an inverted optical microscope, and HMVEC were examined by confocal microscopy for actin and focal adhesion organization/ arrangement. Over the range of RGD ligand density studied (∼0.19–0.6 peptides/nm2), our results show HMVEC migration decreases with increasing RGD density in the polymer. HMVEC were least motile on the 100% RGD polymer (∼0.38–0.6 peptides/nm2) with an average migration of 0.20 mm2/h in area covered, whereas HMVEC showed the fastest migration of 0.48±0.06 mm2/h on the 50% RGD surface (∼0.19–0.30 peptides/nm2). In contrast, cell proliferation increased with increasing surface peptide density; proliferation on the 50% RGD surface was 1.5%±0.06/h compared with 2.2%±0.07/h on the 100% RGD surface. Our results show that surface peptide density affects cellular functions such as growth and migration, with the highest peptide density supporting the most proliferation but the slowest migration. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]