MSE 536
Homework #2
Chapter 8 & 9
Due 9/28/10
1. You are performing an in vitro experiment in which you will expose a material you are
considering for a medical device to synovial fluid, which contains the proteins albumin,
transferring, and IgM at concentrations of 5, 0.5 and 0.05, mg/ml, respectively. Each of
the3se components has a particular affinity for your material, with IgM being the highest
and albumin being the lowest.
(a) Describe the kinetics of protein adsorption to your material and how the surface
concentration of each protein will change with time.
(b) Subsequently in the experiment, more albumin is added to the synovial fluid. What
effect will this have on the proteins adsorbed to the surface?
(c) The graph below shows the amount of IgM adsorbed to the material surface as a
function of time. What will happen on the material surface with the addition of more
IgM?
2. Consider a material for a vascular graft application with proteins adsorbed to its surface
and a second material with proteins covalently bonded to the surface. For which material
would you expe3ect the protein layer to be more stable under flow conditions similar to
those found in a blood vessel? Why?
Chapter 9
3. What are the various types of cell membrane receptors and ligands? What type of
contacts does each form (cell-cell or cell-ECM)?
(b) How do these different receptors and ligands interact with a biomaterial?
4. Most tissues in the body are relatively soft compared with bone. What is responsible for
the high modulus of bone? How could you apply this knowledge when designing a
synthetic scaffold material to replace bone via a tissue engineering approach?