Surface chemistry and polymer film thickness effects on endothelial cell adhesion and proliferation

Adherence and growth rates of human aortic endothelial cells (HAEC) on plasma polymerized poly(vinylacetic acid) films were measured as functions of the surface density of --COOH groups and plasma deposited film thickness. Pulsed plasma polymerization was employed to produce films containing 3.6 to 9% --COOH groups, expressed as a percent of total carbon content. Endothelial cells exhibited increased cell adherence and proliferation with increasing --COOH surface densities. Additionally, and unexpectedly, cell growth was also dependent on the film thicknesses, which ranged from 25 to 200 nm. The results indicate that optimization of the functional group surface density and film thickness could produce significant enhancements in initial adhesion and subsequent growth of the HAEC cells.