Affiliation: | a Center for Bioengineering, Box 351750, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA b Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Box 351750, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA |
Abstract: | Fibrinogen adsorption on gold and platinum surfaces has been studied with electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA), secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), 125I labeling, and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Stable images of single molecules have been obtained, but are rare. ESCA, SIMS, and labeling studies confirm that absorbed fibrinogen is present on samples at monolayer and submonolayer coverages even when STM images show only a bare substrate. Imaging is more reproducible at high coverages at which single molecules cannot be resolved. Possible explanations for the failure of STM to observe adsorbed fibrinogen molecules are discussed. |