Synergistic effect of hydrophobic and anionic surface groups triggers blood coagulation in vitro

Biomaterial induced coagulation encompasses plasmatic and cellular processes. The functional loss of biomedical devices possibly resulting from these thrombotic reactions motivates the need for a better understanding of processes occurring at blood-biomaterial interfaces. Well defined model surfaces providing specific chemical-physical properties (self assembled monolayers (SAMs)) displaying hydrophobic or/and acidic terminal groups were used to uncover initial mechanisms of biomaterial induced coagulation. We investigated the influence of electrical charge and wettability on platelet- and contact activation, the two main actors of blood coagulation, which are often considered as separate mechanisms in biomaterials research. Our results show a dependence of contact activation on acidic surface groups and a correlation of platelet adhesion to surface hydrophobicity. Clot formation resulting from the interplay of blood platelets and contact activation was only found on surfaces combining both acidic and hydrophobic surface groups but not on monolayers displaying extreme hydrophobic/acidic properties.