Fitc labeled human fibrinogen

All cell culture reagents were from Invitrogen (Paisley, UK). All chemicals were purchased from Sigma‐Aldrich (St. Louis, MO) unless indicated otherwise. Neuraminidase from Clostridium perfringens was from Sigma‐Aldrich. 3‐FAx‐peracetyl‐Neu5Ac was from Merck Millipore (Burlington, MA). Carboxylated Nile red 5 μm beads were from Spherotech (Chicago, IL). CD11b‐targeting, nontargeting siRNA, Lipofectamine 3000 reagent and mouse IgG2a isotype control were purchased from Thermo Scientific (Waltham, MA). Mouse monoclonal anti‐CD11b (clone OX‐42) antibody was from Serotec AbD (Hercules, CA). Recombinant human Tau protein (isoform 2N4R) was a kind gift from Dr Vilmante Borutaite. FITC‐labeled human fibrinogen was from Molecular Innovations (Novi, MI).

Levels of protein adhesion were quantified for the fabricated materials using a modified version of a previously reported method^{48 (link)}. FITC labeled human fibrinogen (13 mg/mL, Molecular Innovations) was diluted to achieve 2 mg mL⁻¹ in phosphate buffer solution (pH 7.4). Sections of the various SR tubing were incubated at 37 °C for 30 minutes in a 96 well plate, followed by the addition of the stock protein solution to achieve a concentration of 2 mg mL^{−1 
48 (link)}. During the addition of the stock solution, the tip of the pipette was held below the air-water interface to avoid denaturing of the protein. Following 2 hours of incubation, infinite dilution of the wells’ contents was carried out to wash away the bulk and any loosely bound protein from the materials. Samples were then imaged under an EVOS FL fluorescent microscope to qualitatively assess the degree of protein adhesion on the surface. All images were taken at an equal light intensity.