Thrombogenesis: an epitaxial phenomena. I

A semiempirical epitaxial model has been derived which correlates and interrelates the surface free energy, ultrastructural morphology, surface charge, surface chemistry, and surface molecular motions of a model triblock copolymer to thrombogenesis. This paper addresses the aspect of: (1) ultrastructure order versus disorder, (2) primary and secondary molecular motions, (3) surface and side chain chemistry, (4) thrombogenesis, and (5) the derived epitaxial model based on the above observations. This model can be extrapolated to include and predict the relative thrombogenic responses of various crystalline and semicrystalline polymeric substrates, i.e., aliphatic polyolefins, polyurethanes, and polypeptides.