Collagen has been widely used for tissue engineering. Here, we applied bioactive laminin-derived peptides as an additive for collagen, laminin-111, and fibronectin matrices resulting in peptide/collagen, peptide/laminin-111, and peptide/fibronectin matrices. Several syndecan-binding peptides, including AG73 (RKRLQVQLSIRT), enhanced the cell attachment activity of collagen matrices. AG73 synergistically enhanced not only cell attachment but also cell spreading on collagen matrices. AG73 also enhanced integrin-binding to the collagen matrices, including organization of actin stress fibers and promotion of Tyr397-focal adhesion kinase (FAK) phosphorylation. Additionally, AG73 enhanced neurite outgrowth on collagen matrices. These results suggest that the integrin-mediated biological activity of collagen matrices is synergistically enhanced by the syndecan-mediated cellular function of AG73. Further, cell attachment and spreading activity of laminin-111 and fibronectin matrices was also synergistically enhanced by AG73. The syndecan-binding peptides are useful to enhance the integrin-mediated biological activities of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, such as collagen, laminin-111, and fibronectin. The peptide/matrix mixed method is a new concept for biomaterial fabrication and has the potential for wide use in cell and tissue engineering.
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