Spontaneous Coassembly of the Protein Terthiophene into Fluorescent Electroactive Microfibers in 2D and 3D Cell Cultures.

ABSTRACT: Protein-based microfibers are biomaterials of paramount importance in materials science, nanotechnology, and medicine. Here we describe the spontaneous in situ formation and secretion of nanostructured protein microfibers in 2D and 3D cell cultures of 3T3 fibroblasts and B104 neuroblastoma cells upon treatment with a micromolar solution of either unmodified terthiophene or terthiophene modified by mono-oxygenation (thiophene → thiophene S-oxide) or dioxygenation (thiophene → thiophene S,S-dioxide) of the inner ring. We demonstrate via metabolic cytotoxicity tests that modification to the S-oxide leads to a severe drop in cell viability. By contrast, unmodified terthiophene and the respective S,S-dioxide cause no harm to the cells and lead to the fo

SUBMITTER: Palama IE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9026133 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature