Figure 5.

(a) Covalent immobilization of tropoelastin (in PBS, pH 7.4) on RF plasma- and PIII-treated PES in contrast to physisorption on untreated PES. Levels of surface-bound tropoelastin on RF plasma- and PIII-treated PES were compared to those on untreated PES. (b) Accessibility of the tropoelastin C-terminal region in different tropoelastin (TE)–surface association conditions. All samples were BSA-blocked after protein adhesion. (c) Human dermal fibroblast attachment on untreated, RF plasma- and PIII-treated PES with or without tropoelastin (TE). Tropoelastin was coated on the surfaces in different pH and salt conditions, but cell attachment was performed in physiologically relevant conditions. Cell binding was compared between tropoelastin-coated and BSA-coated surfaces, and between tropoelastin-coated surfaces with different protein–surface association conditions.