We here report the development of two peptide scaffolds designed for periodontal ligament fibroblasts. The scaffolds consist of one of the pure self-assembling peptide scaffolds RADA16 through direct coupling to short biologically active motifs. The motifs are 2-unit RGD binding sequence PRG (PRGDSGYRGDS) and laminin cell adhesion motif PDS (PDSGR). RGD and laminin have been previously shown to...

Laminin-121, previously referred as to laminin-3, was expressed recombinantly in human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells by triple transfection of full-length cDNAs encoding mouse laminin α1, β2 and γ1 chains. The recombinant laminin-121 was purified using Heparin-Sepharose followed by molecular sieve chromatography and shown to be correctly folded by electron microscopy and circular dichroism (...

The ways in which the carbohydrate moieties of laminin affect its cellular interactions have been examined by two different experimental approaches. In one approach, we used lectins in order to block specific carbohydrates on laminin which previously had been dried onto a plastic surface. We found that wheat germ agglutinin and Griffonia simplicifolia agglutinin I blocked the binding of the neu...

The labyrinth is the highly vascularized part of the rodent placenta that allows efficient transfer of gases, nutrients, wastes, and other molecules between the maternal and embryonic circulations. These two blood compartments are separated by blastocyst-derived trophoblasts and endothelial cells with an intervening basement membrane that contains laminin and other typical basement membrane com...

Osteoclast precursors are chemotactically attracted to sites of bone resorption via migration pathways that include transendothelial crossing in blood capillaries. Transendothelial migration involves poorly understood interactions with basal lamina molecules, including laminins. To investigate osteoclast-laminin interactions, we used human osteoclast-like cell lines obtained from giant cell tum...

Laminins are heterotrimeric proteins of basement membranes. More than 50 different trimers may exist. Laminin-10 (alpha5beta1gamma1 rather than laminin-1 (alpha1beta1gamma1) could be the most abundant isoform in the adult stage, and laminin-10 is made by several developing epithelial sheets. We show here that a much used commercial human preparation contains laminin-10 (alpha5beta1gamma1), some...

lustering of acetylcholine receptors (AChRs) is a critical step in neuromuscular synaptogenesis, and is induced by agrin and laminin which are thought to act through different signaling mechanisms. We addressed whether laminin redistributes postsynaptic proteins and requires key elements of the agrin signaling pathway to cause AChR aggregation. In myotubes, laminin-1 rearranged dystroglycans an...

The effect of laminin on the distribution of dystroglycan (DG) and other surface proteins was examined by fluorescent staining in cultures of muscle cells derived from Xenopus embryos. Western blotting confirmed that previously characterized antibodies are reactive in Xenopus. In control cultures, alphaDG, betaDG, and laminin binding sites were distributed as microclusters (<1 microm2 in area) ...

A class of designed self-assembling peptide nanofiber scaffolds with more than 99% water content has been shown to be a good biological material for cell culture. Here, we report the functionalization of one of these peptide scaffolds, RAD16-I (AcN-RADARADARADARADA-CONH2), by direct solid phase synthesis extension at the amino terminal with three short-sequence motifs. These motifs are present ...