Plasma functionalization of poly(vinyl alcohol) hydrogel for cell adhesion enhancement.

Plasma functionalization of poly(vinyl alcohol) hydrogel for cell adhesion enhancement. Biomatter. 2013 Oct-Dec;3(4) Authors: Ino JM, Chevallier P, Letourneur D, Mantovani D, Le Visage C Abstract Tailoring the interface interactions between a biomaterial and the surrounding tissue is a capital aspect to consider for the design of medical devices. Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) hydrogels present suitable mechanical properties for various biological substitutes, however the lack of cell adhesion on their surface is often a problem. The common approach is to incorporate biomolecules, either by blending or coupling. But these modifications disrupt PVA intra- and intermolecular interactions leading therefore to a loss of its original mechanical properties. In this work, surface modification by glow discharge plasma, technique known to modify only the surface without altering the bulk properties, has been investigated to promote cell attachment on PVA substrates. N2/H2 microwave plasma treatment has been performed, and the chemical composition of PVA surface has been investigated. X-ray photoelectron and Fourier transform infrared analyses on the plasma-treated films revealed the presence of carbonyl and nitrogen species, including amine and amide groups, while the main structure of PVA was unchanged. Plasma modification induced an increase in the PVA surface wettability with no significant change in surface roughness. In contrast to untreated ...
Source: Biomatter - Category: Biotechnology Tags: Biomatter Source Type: research