Tone reversal of an AFM lateral force image due to hybridization of oligonucleotides immobilized on polymers

Hydrophobic Recovery of PDMS Surfaces in Contact with Hydrophilic Entities: Relevance to Biomedical Devices

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), a silicone elastomer, is increasingly being used in health and biomedical fields due to its excellent optical and mechanical properties. Its biocompatibility and resistance to biodegradation led to various applications (e.g., lung on a chip replicating blood flow, medical interventions, and diagnostics). The many advantages of PDMS are, however, partially offset by its inherent hydrophobicity, which makes it unsuitable for applications needing wetting, thus requiring the hydrophilization of its surface by exposure to UV or O2 plasma. Yet, the elastomeric state of PDMS translates in a slow, hours to days, process of reducing its surface hydrophilicity-a process denominated as hydrophobic recovery. Using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), the present study details the dynamics of hydrophobic recovery of PDMS, on flat bare surfaces and on surfaces embedded with hydrophilic beads. It was found that a thin, stiff, hydrophilic, silica film formed on top of the PDMS material, following its hydrophilization by UV radiation. The hydrophobic recovery of bare PDMS material is the result of an overlap of various nano-mechanical, and diffusional processes, each with its own dynamics rate, which were analyzed in parallel. The hydrophobic recovery presents a hysteresis, with surface hydrophobicity recovering only partially due to a thin, but resilient top silica layer. The monitoring of hydrophobic recovery of PDMS embedded with hydrophilic beads revealed that this is delayed, and then totally stalled in the few-micrometer vicinity of the embedded hydrophilic beads. This region where the hydrophobic recovery stalls can be used as a good approximation of the depth of the resilient, moderately hydrophilic top layer on the PDMS material. The complex processes of hydrophilization and subsequent hydrophobic recovery impact the design, fabrication, and operation of PDMS materials and devices used for diagnostics and medical procedures. Consequently, especially considering the emergence of new surgical procedures using elastomers, the impact of hydrophobic recovery on the surface of PDMS warrants more comprehensive studies.

Protein patterning by microcontact printing using pyramidal PDMS stamps

Micro-contact printing, μCP, is a well-established soft-lithography technique for printing biomolecules. μCP uses stamps made of Poly(dimethylsiloxane), PDMS, made by replicating a microstructured silicon master fabricated by semiconductor manufacturing processes. One of the problems of the μCP is the difficult control of the printing process, which, because of the high compressibility of PDMS, is very sensitive to minute changes in the applied pressure. This over-sensitive response leads to frequent and/or uncontrollable collapse of the stamps with high aspect ratios, thus decreasing the printing accuracy and reproducibility. Here we present a straightforward methodology of designing and fabricating PDMS structures with an architecture which uses the collapse of the stamp to reduce, rather than enlarge the variability of the printing. The PDMS stamp, organized as an array of pyramidal micro-posts, whose ceiling collapses when pressed on a flat surface, replicates the structure of the silicon master fabricated by anisotropic wet etching. Upon application of pressure, depending on the size of, and the pitch between, the PDMS pyramids, an air gap is formed surrounding either the entire array, or individual posts. The printing technology, which also exhibits a remarkably low background noise for fluorescence detection, may find applications when the clear demarcation of the shapes of protein patterns and the distance between them are critical, such as microarrays and studies of cell patterning.

Polymer surface properties control the function of heavy meromyosin in dynamic nanodevices

The actin-myosin system, responsible for muscle contraction, is also the force-generating element in dynamic nanodevices operating with surface-immobilized motor proteins. These devices require materials that are amenable to micro- and nano-fabrication, but also preserve the bioactivity of molecular motors. The complexity of the protein-surface systems is greatly amplified by those of the polymer-fluid interface; and of the structure and function of molecular motors, making the study of these interactions critical to the success of molecular motor-based nanodevices. We measured the density of the adsorbed motor protein (heavy meromyosin, HMM) using quartz crystal microbalance; and motor bioactivity with ATPase assay, on a set of model surfaces, i.e., nitrocellulose, polystyrene, poly(methyl methacrylate), and poly(butyl methacrylate), poly(tert-butyl methacrylate). A higher hydrophobicity of the adsorbing material translates in a higher total number of HMM molecules per unit area, but also in a lower uptake of water, and a lower ratio of active per total HMM molecules per unit area. We also measured the motility characteristics of actin filaments on the model surfaces, i.e., velocity, smoothness and deflection of movement, determined via in vitro motility assays. The filament velocities were found to be controlled by the relative number of active HMM per total motors, rather than their absolute surface density. The study allowed the formulation of the general engineering principles for the selection of polymeric materials for the manufacturing of dynamic nanodevices using protein molecular motors.

Protein immobilisation on micro/nanostructures fabricated by laser microablation

The performance of biomedical microdevices requires the accurate control of the biomolecule concentration on the surface, as well as the preservation of their bioactivity. This desideratum is even more critical for proteins, which present a significant propensity for surface-induced denaturation, and for microarrays, which require high multiplexing. We have previously proposed a method for protein immobilisation on micro/nanostructures fabricated via laser ablation of a thin metal layer deposited on a transparent polymer. This study investigates the relationship between the properties of the micro/nanostructured surface, i.e., topography and physico-chemistry, and protein immobilisation, for five, molecularly different proteins, i.e., lysozyme, myoglobin, α-chymotrypsin, human serum albumin, and human immunoglobulin. Protein immobilisation on microstructures has been characterised using quantitative fluorescence measurements and atomic force microscopy. It has been found that the sub-micrometer-level, combinatorial nature of the microstructure translates in a 3-10-fold amplification of protein adsorption, as compared to flat, chemically homogenous polymeric surfaces. This amplification is more pronounced for smaller proteins, as they can capitalize better on the newly created surface and variability of the nano-environments.