Synthesis of RGD based polymers and cell interaction studies

In recent years, scientists from the fields of materials science, surface engineering, chemistry, physics, biology, biochemistry and medicine attempted to use functionalize polymers to obtain specific cell surface interactions. For this, firstly, polymer materials were coated with cell-adhesive proteins. For this purpose, in the first stage of the study, Arginine-Glycine-Aspartic acid (RGD) tripeptide was synthesized and characterized as cell adhesive material. 3D bioprinting techniques, which can produce functional 3D architectures, are used to mimic the native microenvironment and biological components. For this, bioink to be used in RGD-based 3D bioprinting process was prepared and bioprintability and biocompatibility studies and characterization were carried out. Due to the limitation of the current 3D bioprinting technique, it is necessary to create higher mechanical flexibility/strength, more delicate structures, more complex structures or multiple biological functions. For this reason, biocompatibility studies and characterization of the structure obtained by embedding the synthesized RGD tripeptide into laponite synthetic nanoclay instead of 3D bioprinted tissue scaffold were carried out. The amino acid residues surrounding the RGD motif of RGD-bearing proteins affect the binding specificity and affinity of integrins. Biocompatibility studies and characterization of the interaction with laponite synthetic nanoclay were investigated by using natural keratin containing RGD index instead of synthesized RGD in the last step.