PLATELET-ADHESION AND CELLULAR INTERACTION WITH POLY(ETHYLENE OXIDE) IMMOBILIZED ONTO SILICONE-RUBBER MEMBRANE SURFACES

Cellular interaction and platelet adsorption were investigated on poly (ethylene oxide) (PEG) immobilized silicone rubber membrane (SR) which has polyacrylic acid grafts on the surfaces. Polyacrylic acid (PAA) h ad been introduced to the SR surface after Ar plasma treatment of SR s urfaces to introduce peroxide groups. Surface characterizations were m ade using ATR-FTIR, ESCA, SEM, and contact angle measurements. Experim ental results obtained by ESCA high resolution curve fitting spectra i ndicated that the amount of bisamino PEO of different molecular weight s immobilized onto SR surfaces were similar, which showed that the inf luence of the length of molecular chains (-C-C-O-) on the reactivity o f terminal amino group is negligible. The wettability of modified SR s urfaces increased with an increase in PEO molecular weight. Biological studies such as corneal epithelial cell culture and blood platelet ad hesion were performed to understand the biocompatibility of modified S R surfaces. Biological studies using corneal epithelial cells showed t hat cell migration, attachment and proliferation onto PEO-20000 immobi lized SR surface were suppressed, whereas these biological activities on PEO-600 were enhanced. Another study on platelet adhesion revealed that many platelets attached to PEO-600 immobilized SR, while platelet deposition was rarely observed on SR grafted with PEO-3350, The effec ts of different PEO molecular chains on biological response were discu ssed.