Protein adsorption on nanostructured implant surfaces: A model calculation for the prediction of preferred adsorption sites

Introduction Adsorption of proteins at a solid-liquid interface is an important phenomenon in biology and highly relevant for the design of biocompatible materials. It is well-known that protein adsorption is one of the first events which take place when a foreign material comes into contact with a living body and is believed to be a key factor in controlling subsequent cellular adhesion. In the last years several studies were performed, in which protein adsorption on nano-patterned adsorbents was investigated and a dependence on the topography was determined. For example an increased adsorption of F-Actin at stripes and edges was observed on nanostructured titanium with structure heights of 1-2 nm and proteins were aligned parallel to the nanostructure [1]. Moreover, the range in which proteins are “sensitive” to structures of a certain size is usually very small and hence, a detailed knowledge of their effect on the adsorption is required.