Introducing RGD peptides on PHBV films through PEG-containing cross-linkers to improve the biocompatibility

Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV), a biodegradable polyester, has been a good candidate of biomaterial employed in tissue engineering. However, the PHBV film is hydrophobic and has no recognition sites for cell attachment. In this study, PHBV films are activated by ammonia plasma treatment to produce amino groups on the surface, followed by sequential reactions with a heterobifunctional cross-linker containing a segment of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and further with RGD-containing peptides. XPS analyses of modified surfaces after each reaction step reveal that the RGD-containing peptides have been covalently grafted onto PHBV films. The result of cell viability assay indicates that the RGD-modified PHBV films exhibit a distinctly improved cellular compatibility. Moreover, according to the results of serum adsorption tests by optical waveguide lightmode spectroscopy (OWLS) and fibrinogen adsorption tests by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) on unmodified and modified PHBV surfaces, the introduced PEG chains can significantly decrease the nonspecific adsorption of proteins from serum and fibrinogen from plasma, thus decreasing the risk of thrombus formation and improving the blood compatibility of implanted materials.