Introduction: Titanium (Ti) and Ti-based alloy materials are commonly used to develop artificial hearts. To prevent bacterial infections and thrombus in patients with implanted artificial hearts, long-term prophylactic antibiotics and anti-thrombotic drugs are required, and this may lead to health complications. Therefore, the development of optimized antibacterial and antifouling surfaces for Ti-based substrate is especially critical when designing artificial heart implants.Methods: In this study, polydopamine and poly-(sulfobetaine methacrylate) polymers were co-deposited to form a coating on the surface of Ti substrate, a process initiated by Cu2+ metal ions. The mechanism for the fabrication of the coating was investigated by coating thickness measurements as well as Ultraviolet–visible and X-ray Photoelectron (XPS) spectroscopy. Characterization of the coating was observed by optical imaging, scanning electron microscope (SEM), XPS, atomic force microscope (AFM), water contact angle and film thickness. In addition, antibacterial property of the coating was tested using Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) as model strains, while the material biocompatibility was assessed by the antiplatelet adhesion test using platelet-rich plasma and in vitro cytotoxicity tests using human umbilical vein endothelial cells and red blood cells.Results and discussion: Optical imaging, SEM, XPS, AFM, water contact angle, and film thickness tests demonstrated that the coating was successfully deposited on the Ti substrate surface. The biocompatibility and antibacterial assays showed that the developed surface holds great potential for improving the antibacterial and antiplatelet adhesion properties of Ti-based heart implants.

In order to solve the problem that the traditional artificial heart pump has poor dynamic bionic performance and cannot respond to blood perfusion in real time according to the patient’s state, this paper proposes a new physiological control method based on adaptive adjustment of heart rate. Firstly, a coupled model of the cardiovascular circulatory system and artificial heart pump was established, and the correctness of the model is verified by hemodynamic simulation. Secondly, according to the model-free adaptive control theory, the artificial heart pump physiological control strategy for adaptive regulation of heart rate is designed, including pseudo partial derivative estimation algorithm and adaptive control law. Then, the parameters of the adaptive controller are optimized by the improved beetle antennae search algorithm. Finally, the auxiliary effect and dynamic performance of the adaptive control strategy are studied by numerical methods. The results show that the physiological control method based on adaptive regulation of heart rate realizes the adaptive modulation of heart rate and blood flow, which can meet the needs of blood perfusion in different states and help to promote the recovery of damaged heart.

No abstract