Sialic Acid Engineering of Thin Hydrogel Membranes

We report the synthesis of glycosylated hydrogel membranes of poly{[N‐(2‐hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide]‐co‐(2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate)} with the aim of developing bioactivated polymer substrates for cell culture. 3′‐Sialyllactose, the saccharidic portion of the GM3 ganglioside involved in cell‐cell recognition over a wide range of biological processes, was chemically modified with an acrylate group and incorporated into the growing macromolecular network of hydrogels by free radical crosslinking copolymerization. The incorporation and accessibility of the sialic acid residues at the hydrogel surface was verified by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay using mouse monoclonal anti‐GM3, and by electron microscopy after labeling with lectin‐gold nanoparticles. The water content was further characterized by thermogravimetry. magnified image