The effect of covalently linked RGD peptide on the conformation of polysaccharides in aqueous solutions.

Covalently modified polysaccharides are routinely used in tissue engineering due to their tailored biofunctionality. Understanding the effect of single-chain level modification on the solution conformation of the single chain, and more importantly on the self-assembly and aggregation of the ensemble of chains is expected to improve our ability to control network topology and the properties of the resulting gels. Attaching an RGD peptide to a polysaccharide backbone is a common procedure used to promote cell adhesion in hydrogel scaffolds.