Control of the blood–polymer interface by plasma treatment

Abstract

Plasma that is generated using dielectric barrier discharge is used to modify the surface properties of polymers used in medicine, at atmospheric pressure. Treatments are performed on films of polyamide-6, high density polyethylene, polymethylmetacrylate, and polytetrafluorethylene, selected for their medical applications. The plasma treatment conditions are discussed, in relation with relevant parameters for the adhesion properties, like the surface energy components, interfacial tension, surface topography, structural changes, and chemical composition. The interface properties are analyzed using the most important fluids implicated in the interfacial events related to the coagulation process at the interface of blood-polymer surface, respectively, water, whole blood, fibrinogen, and albumin. The physical and chemical modification of the surface is theoretically favorable to the interaction of the polymer with the blood and its components, by means of interfacial tension reduction, polarity increase, cleaning, ordering of molecular chains, functionalization, and stabilization effects.

Morphology Transformations of Platelets on Plasma Activated Surfaces

“…Any coating caused reduction of blood platelets and a simple model on steric repulsion of plasma protein and platelets by surface grafting was presented. Improved biocompatibility of plasma‐modified polymers was also observed by other authors …”

“…Improved biocompatibility of plasma-modified polymers was also observed by other authors. [38,39] None of the papers introduced above reports activation of blood platelets on the surface of PET polymer treated by oxygen plasma only. As described above, Lee and Spijker studied adhesion of blood platelets on PE surfaces while Kim and Wang presented results on PET grafted with insulin, heparin, or PEG prior to incubation with blood.…”

Atmospheric-Pressure Dielectric Barrier Discharge for Surface Processing of Polymer Films and Fibers

“…This configuration allows the exposure of samples with various geometries (Fig. 1) [12], [13]. The highvoltage (HV) electrode is a metallic ring (2-mm outer diameter, 1-mm inner diameter, 1-mm height), which is fixed inside a Teflon head (2-mm inner diameter, 6-mm outer diameter, 4-mm height).…”

Direct Condensation Reaction for Grafting of Polyethylene Glycol Monomethyl Ether on Poly(Methacrylic Acid-co-Methyl Methacrylate) for Application in Biomedical Engineering

“…For instance, plasma surface modification of polyamide 6 is frequently reported to increase its wettability [10][11][12][13][14] or to improve cell adhesion and proliferation on poly(L-lactide) and poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) [15]. Chemical treatment of biomaterials consists of various methods for both grafting [16][17][18] and crosslinking [19][20][21], together with the structural modifications such as hydro-genation [22], halogenation [23], and hydrohalogenation [24,25] which are widely described in the literature.…”