Ozonization and Cyclic Voltammetry as Efficient Methods for the Regeneration of Gelatin-Coated SPR Chips Sandra Van Vlierberghe, Karolien De Wael, Hans Buschop, Annemie Adriaens, Etienne Schacht, Peter Dubruel * Introduction In recent decades, polymers have gained increasing interest for biomedical applications. As one important example, a variety of biopolymers, semi-synthetic and synthetic materials have been evaluated and compared as scaffolds for tissue engineering applications. [1,2] For some scaffolds, it has been shown that cell adhesion can be promoted by coating the scaffold surface with cell- interactive proteins from the extra-cellular matrix. [3] We have previously reported on the application of gelatin based hydrogels for tissue engineering applications. [4–6] Gelatin can be obtained after basic or acidic hydrolysis of collagen, one of the major protein constituents of the extra-cellular matrix. Since the initial cell attachment is primarily affected by the binding of adhesion molecules [7] and their subsequent mediation between the cells and the material surface, we anticipated that the adsorption of cell-adhesive proteins from serum-enriched cell culture medium including fibronectin, transferrin, vitronectin and albumin would influence the cell interaction. [8,9] One of the techniques, which is very well suited for studying biomolecular interactions, is surface plasmon resonance (SPR). In a typical SPR experiment, changes in refractive index at the chip/rinsing fluid interphase are measured in real time. Changes observed can be related to adhesion phenomena at the sensor chip. One of the major drawbacks of SPR, however, is related to the fact that Communication S. Van Vlierberghe, E. Schacht, P. Dubruel Polymer Chemistry and Biomaterials Research Group, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281 (Bldg. S4), B-9000 Ghent, Belgium E-mail: peter.dubruel@ugent.be K. De Wael, H. Buschop, A. Adriaens Department of Analytical Chemistry, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281 (Bldg. S12), B-9000 Ghent, Belgium The application of ozonization and cyclic voltammetry for the regeneration of gold chips containing a chemisorbed gelatin layer is reported. The efficiency of the regeneration process was analyzed using various surface analysis techniques indicating a complete removal of the biopolymer layer. The current findings open up perspectives for regeneration and multiple appli- cation of gold chips for SPR measurements. 1090 Macromol. Biosci. 2008, 8, 1090–1097 ß 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim DOI: 10.1002/mabi.200800074