Surface modification of polylactic acid (PLA) and polyglycolic acid (PGA) monofilaments via the cold plasma method for acupoint catgut-embedding therapy applications

Abstract

Polylactic acid (PLA) and polyglycolic acid (PGA) monofilaments have been the most recently, widely used acupoint catgut-embedding therapy (ACET) biodegradable materials. However, their poor hydrophilicity and cell adhesion are common limitations during applications. To improve their surface properties, modification technologies should be generally applied. This paper firstly adapted polymer chips to produce four types of PLA and PGA monofilaments, and then attempted cold oxygen plasma treatment for surface modification. Afterwards, the modified monofilaments were fully characterized with respect to structure, mechanical and in vitro properties. The results showed that both the PLA and PGA monofilaments became coarser after modification, and their hydrophilicity was improved, while their weight and diameter sizes were slightly decreased. The tensile properties and flexibility of the modified samples changed little, and their swelling ratio increased sharply. All the prepared samples exhibited good cell viability, with more than 75% of cells being viable. Sample PM-PLA2 (plasma-modified PLA2) and sample PM-PGA2 (plasma-modified PGA2) presented the largest cell attachment ratio (cultured for 48 h) at 52.16% ± 1.05% and 58.39% ± 2.07%, respectively. In sum, this cold plasma method successfully improved the hydrophilicity and in vitro properties of PLA and PGA monofilaments, while retaining the other excellent properties, and warrants further study to develop new PLA and PGA-embedding materials with outstanding clinical efficacy.

Trends in 3D Printing Processes for Biomedical Field: Opportunities and Challenges

“…Several researchers have reported other post-printing strategies to improve surface properties and demonstrated their advantages for regenerative medicine applications such as cold atmospheric plasma [108], chemical hydrolysis, UV/ Ozone irradiation, gold thin film deposition [109], and surface modification with peptides. An excellent review that investigates extensively this research topic is the one proposed by Baran et al [110].…”

Current Advances on the Regeneration of Musculoskeletal Interfaces

“…However, their bio-inactivity increases the risk of rejection and by-products of their degradation can be toxic 49 . Moreover, the adhesion of cells is often not promoted 50 . Using materials with natural origin can resolve some of these problems.…”

Plasma Treatment of Different Biodegradable Polymers: A Method to Enhance Wettability and Adhesion Properties for Use in Industrial Packaging

“…For all of these mentioned reasons, plasma activation has been extensively analyzed in the scientific literature to treat conventional polymeric substrates such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) [13], low-density polyethylene (LDPE) [14], polypropylene (PP) [15] and polystyrene (PS) [16]. However, there are few studies about these surface treatments on BPs in the scientific literature, most of which concern biomedical and tissue engineering applications [17][18][19][20][21] or the study of the superhydrophilicity of polymeric nanofibrous membranes during plasma exposure [22]. Our work is focused on the investigation of plasma activation of three different BP substrates used in the food packaging field: two promising materials such as poly(butylene adipate terephthalate) (PBAT) and poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) which are considered a good alternative to commercial plastics for the package design of wraps or bags [23] and a BP blend composed of 60% PBAT and 40% poly(lactic acid) (PLA) which, exploiting the properties of the two constituent polymers, has been used to enhance the antibacterial activity of fruit packages [24].…”