Fig. 3.

Physicochemical characterization of ECM and BMP-2 adsorption on FN/FN ​+ ​VN/VN coated PEA surfaces. (A), AFM height scan and phase images from FN (i), FN ​+ ​VN (ii), and VN (iii) PEA coated surfaces. The measured height corresponding to the cross-section (red line) was shown underneath each image. The FN on the PEA surface formed fibrillar networks, and VN on PEA remained in globular conformation/multimeric aggregates. Once co-coated with FN, VN was observed within the FN network (blue star). (B), Average peak-to-valley roughness analysis. Compared to the VN-only coating, the FN ​+ ​VN coating surface exhibited lower Peak-to-Valley roughness, indicating that the VN can incorporate into the FN fibrillar network. (C), The availability of the heparin II GF binding domain of FN was quantified by ELISA. The availability of this domain on the FN and FN ​+ ​VN surface was similar, but both are significantly more than on the VN alone surface. (D), The surface density of BMP2 on different ECM-coated PEA surfaces was quantified by ELISA. Significantly increased levels of BMP2 were detected on FN ​+ ​VN surfaces compared to FN only and VN only surfaces. The bar plot shows mean values and standard deviation. Each point represents one individual sample. n ​= ​3 or 4. Kruskal-Wallis test was applied for multiple comparisons. ∗p ​< ​0.05; ∗∗p ​< ​0.01. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)