[Self-assembled monolayers as model systems to study the relation between biocompatibity and surface chemistry of...

The surface properties of biomaterials are essentially important to their biocompatibility. The complexity of surface composition and structure of biomaterials bring out the problem that it is difficult to make fully clear how the surface chemical properties and the structures of biomaterials control the biological reactions between the surfaces and proteins and/or cells. The structure of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) is well established and SAMs have the characteristics of which a variety of functional groups and molecules can be introduced, either before or after the monolayer is formed, and diversified spectroscopy monitoring can be used to characterize SAMs and changes after their interactions with proteins or cells. Thus, SAMs are suitable model substrates for the study of the relationship between the surface chemical properties and biocompatibility of biomaterials. This paper reviews the researches on SAMs as models to study the absorption of proteins, cell adhesion and proliferation on materials, and the influences of both surface chemical functional groups and motion of molecular chains on hemocompatibility of biomaterials.