In recent years, there has been increasing interest for the surface modification of biomaterials in order to improve their surface properties. The bare metal stents surface based on 3-dimethyl(methacryloyloxyethyl)ammonium propane sulfonate polymers has shown an excellent antifouling and blood compatibility by using surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization. Surface structure, morphology, wettability, and element content were characterized by scanning electronic microscope, static water contact angles measurement, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurement, respectively. The results showed zwitterionic brushes were successfully fabricated on bare metal stents. The blood compatibility of bare metal stents before and after modification was evaluated by platelet adhesion tests, hemolysis assay, morphological changes of red blood cells, coagulation time tests, plasma recalcification time assay, complement activation, and platelet activation at molecular level. Moreover, the cytotoxicity was also to be characterized. All assays showed after the modification with zwitterionic brush the metal stents displayed a property of excellent blood compatibility and low cytotoxicity.
The topographies of various surfaces have been studied in many fields due to the significant influence that surfaces have on the practical performance of a given sample. A comprehensive evaluation requires the assistance of fractal analysis, which is of significant importance for modern science and technology. Due to the deep insights of fractal theory, fractal analysis on surface topographies has been widely applied and recommended. In this paper, the remarkable uprising in recent decades of fractal analysis on the surfaces of thin films, an essential domain of surface engineering, is reviewed. By summarizing the methods used to calculate fractal dimension and the deposition techniques of thin films, the results and trends of fractal analysis are associated with the microstructure, deposition parameters, etc. and this contributes profoundly to exploring the mechanism of film growth under different conditions. Choosing appropriate methods of surface characterization and calculation methods to study diverse surfaces is the main challenge of current research on thin film surface topography by using fractal theory. Prospective developing trends are proposed based on the data extraction and statistics of the published literature in this field.
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