Adhesion of cardiomyocytes on functionalized lipid bilayers

This research was done to test if SLBs are a suitable surface for mimicking the micro-environment of cardiomy-ocytes. SLBs were functionalized with a cholesterol conjugated RGD peptide to see if this promotes similaradhesion as a vitronectin surface induces. Both the effect of the SLB on the cells as well as the effect of differentculture media and the integrated peptide on the SLB were analysed. Both the cholesterol used for conjugatingthe RGD peptide as well as cholesterol soluted in CM medium was found to cause domain formation in theSLB. Integrating cholesterol into the SLB resulted in a decrease of its mobility.Seeding cardiomyocytes on the SLBs caused them to be unstable. Influence of the functionalized surface onCMs seemed minimal compared to vitronectin.