Use of a short peptide as a building block in the layer-by-layer assembly of biomolecules on polymeric surfaces.

The incorporation of low molecular weight drugs and therapeutic peptides into multilayer films assembled via the layer-by-layer technique can potentially provide means to deliver small molecules to target sites and to tune their release. This study describes the use of both hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions to incorporate a tridecapeptide antiinflammatory hormone, α-melanocyte stimulating hormone (α-MSH), as a building block at the base of a multilayer assembly of hyaluronic acid (HA) and chitosan (CS) on poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) surfaces. A range of switching layers, including a neutral lipid, dioleylphosphatidylcholine (DOPC), a negatively charged lipid mixture DOPC/dioleylphosphatidylserine (DOPS) and a negatively charged polysaccharide, HA, were investigated for their ability to support subsequent HA and CS layers. Molecular dynamics simulations were performed to examine the structure and surface chemistry of α-MSH in solution and on surfaces to provide insights into the conditions most likely to support multilayer assembly. The multilayer assembly was stable at physiological pH and was successfully applied to particulate systems.