Sheardown, Heather,McMillan, Robin Scott.2009-03-192009-03-1919981998Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 37-04, page: 1236.9780612367210http://hdl.handle.net/10393/4236http://dx.doi.org/10.20381/ruor-10156Healthy vasculature possesses a single layer of vascular endothelial cells on the interior lumen of the vessel. It is these cells that are responsible for the non-thrombogenicity of the natural blood vessel lumen. The generation of this layer on the surface of an artificial graft could provide the necessary non-thrombogenic properties to the artificial prosthesis. In this work, synthetic cell adhesion peptides were designed, synthesized and chemisorbed onto the surface of a gold coated polyurethane. The polymer substrate was chosen in order to maintain good mechanical properties in the artificial vein or artery, while the gold coating served the purpose of permitting surface modification with the cell adhesion peptides. The peptides were custom designed to specifically be active to cell surface receptors on vascular endothelial cells. The peptides also contained a thiol present in a cysteine amino acid which was necessary for interaction with the gold on the polymer surface. The modifications to the surface were confirmed by various methods including water contact angles, and surface analysis techniques such as: x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The surfaces were tested for their ability to promote the initial attachment of both vascular endothelial cells and mouse 3T3 fibroblasts. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)113 p.Engineering, Biomedical.Thesis