Suppression of fibroblast and bacterial adhesion by MPC coating on acrylic intraocular lenses

To investigate cell adhesion to intraocular lens (IOL) surfaces having different properties using bacteria and fibroblasts.

Department of Ophthalmology, Tokyo Medical University Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.

The polished acrylic IOLs VA60-BB and VA-60-CB (Hoya) were used with no coating or after coating with poly(2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphocholine-co-n-butyl-methacrylate) (MPC) or methane gas plasma. Each IOL was placed in a culture of Staphylococcus aureus (5 x 10(7) colony forming units [CFU]/mL) or fibroblasts (SUSM-1, 1 x 10(4) cells/mL), and the cells adhering to the IOL surface were counted after the culture. Fibroblast adhesiveness was evaluated by centrifuging post-culture IOLs in test tubes at up to 15,000 rpm and looking at the ICAM-1 mRNA expression in the adhering fibroblasts using real-time polymerase chain reaction.

After 1 minute in the bacterial culture, the mean adhering bacteria count was 0.7 x 10(6) CFU in the MPC-coated IOL group and about 2.0 x 106 CFU in the noncoated IOL group (P = 0.03) and the plasma-coated IOL group (P = 0.02). After 96 hours in the fibroblast culture, the adhering fibroblast count was 2.2/mm2 in the MPC-coated IOL group, significantly lower (P = 0.009) than 57.6/mm2 in the noncoated IOL group and 125.8/mm2 in the plasma-coated IOL group. Cell adhesion and ICAM-1 mRNA expression were weak on the MPC-coated IOL, intermediate on the noncoated IOL, and relatively strong on the plasma-coated IOL.

The MPC-coated IOL surface inhibited bacterial and fibroblast adhesion, which is an initial stage of cell proliferation and expression, suggesting that MPC coating may provide an effective means of reducing the risk for endophthalimitis in IOL implantation.