RGD peptide functionalized graphene oxide: a bioactive surface for cell-material interactions

Recently, functionalized graphene-based nanomaterials have gained tremendous attention in biomedical field owing to their biocompatibility, surface functionalizability and their unique mechanical, electronic, and optical properties. Herein, we report a facile one step modification of graphene oxide by RGD peptide, which is known to improve the tissue- material contact by highly specific binding to cellular membrane receptors known as integrins. A detailed structural and morphological characterization of the obtained RGD functionalized graphene oxide (GO-RGD) was performed. The synthesized bioactive composite was used to prepare RGD-GO films by a vacuum filtration method. Additionally, mouse osteoblastic cell (MC3T3-E1) functions including cell attachment, adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation were investigated on GO-RGD films. The results indicated that MC3T3-E1 cell functions were significantly enhanced on GO-RGD films comparing with GO films without functionalization. This study not only demonstrates a facile approach to functionalize graphene oxide with bioactive peptides, but also provides a potential biomaterial for bone repair by improving osteoblastic cell functions.