Platelet adhesion and cellular interaction with poly(ethylene oxide) immobilized onto silicone rubber membrane...

Cellular interaction and platelet adsorption were investigated on poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) immobilized silicone rubber membrane (SR) which has polyacrylic acid grafts on the surfaces. Polyacrylic acid (PAA) had been introduced to the SR surface after Ar plasma treatment of SR surfaces to introduce peroxide groups. Surface characterizations were made using ATR-FTIR, ESCA, SEM, and contact angle measurements. Experimental results obtained by ESCA high resolution curve fitting spectra indicated that the amount of bisamino PEO of different molecular weights immobilized onto SR surfaces were similar, which showed that the influence of the length of molecular chains (-C-C-O-) on the reactivity of terminal amino group is negligible. The wettability of modified SR surfaces increased with an increase in PEO molecular weight. Biological studies such as corneal epithelial cell culture and blood platelet adhesion were performed to understand the biocompatibility of modified SR surfaces. Biological studies using corneal epithelial cells showed that cell migration, attachment and proliferation onto PEO-20000 immobilized SR surface were suppressed, whereas these biological activities on PEO-600 were enhanced. Another study on platelet adhesion revealed that many platelets attached to PEO-600 immobilized SR, while platelet deposition was rarely observed on SR grafted with PEO-3350. The effects of different PEO molecular chains on biological response were discussed.