Complement activation on degraded polyethylene glycol-covered surface.

Surface Adsorption of Polyethylene Glycol and Polyvinyl Alcohol with Variable Molecular Weights on Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles

Association of hydrophobically-modified poly(ethylene glycol) with fusogenic liposomes.

We present results on using cooperative interactions to shield liposomes by incorporating multiple hydrophobic anchoring sites on polyethylene glycol (PEG) polymers. The hydrophobically-modified PEGs (HMPEGs) are comb-graft polymers with strictly alternating monodisperse PEG blocks (M(w)=6, 12, or 35 kDa) bonded to C18 stearylamide hydrophobes. Cooperativity is varied by changing the degree of ...

Slp is an essential component of an EDTA-resistant activation pathway of mouse complement.

Slp (sex-limited protein) is a mouse serum protein encoded by a major histocompatibility complex class III gene. It is considered to be a product of a duplicated complement component C4 gene, but without functional activity. Originally it has been found expressed only in adult males with the S region of the H-2d or H-2s haplotype. In this report we present evidence that Slp is involved in a for...

Activation of human complement by the pneumococcal toxin pneumolysin.

Highly purified pneumolysin (at a concentration of 10 micrograms/ml) caused significant activation of human complement, as measured by conversion of C3. Complement activation in the presence of pneumolysin was not observed in sera chelated with a combination of Mg2+ and ethylene glycol-bis(beta-aminoethyl ether)-N,N-tetraacetic acid, and activation was only slight in C2-deficient sera. This sug...

Degradation of Micropatterned Surfaces by Cell-Dependent and -Independent Processes†

This paper describes a study to determine the role of active cellular processes in the initial patterning and eventual degradation of different micropatterned substrates. We compared the effects of serum and cell type on the ability of cells to crawl onto the nonadhesive regions of a variety of patterned substrates. Cells initially patterned in the presence of serum onto substrates manufactured...