Impact of self‐assembled monolayer films with specific chemical group on bFGF adsorption and endothelial cell growth on gold surface

Abstract In this study, thiols ended with methyl, carboxyl, hydroxy, and amino groups are self‐assembled on gold surfaces. The X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy test results show that chemical components on the self‐assembled surface are similar to those in the theoretical calculations. The atomic force microscope test results show that the molecule assembled on the surface causes no significant variation in the surface roughness before and after the molecule assembly. The water surface contact angle increases with the increasing hydrophilicity of the end groups of the self‐assembled monolayer. The surface zeta potential reveals that COOH surface has the most electronegativity. The resulting substrates are then made to adsorb base fibroblast growth factor (bFGF). The quartz crystal microbalance test results show that the amounts of bFGF adsorbed onto different self‐assembled surfaces are COOH≈OH>CH₃>NH₂. According to cell culture experiments, endothelial cells have different morphologies after adhering to different surfaces. Furthermore, endothelial cells achieve the quickest proliferation on the COOH self‐assembled surface and the slowest proliferation on the CH₃ self‐assembled surface. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 102A: 3439–3445, 2014.