Biocompatibility of Modified Polyetheretherketone (Peek-Wc) Membranes: Human Plasma Adsorption
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BIOCOMPATIBILITY OF MODIFIED POLYETHERETHERKETONE (PEEK-WC) MEMBRANES: HUMAN PLASMA ADSORPTION Loredana De Bartolo, Annarosa Gugliuzza, Beatrice Cirillo, Sabrina Morelli and Enrico Drioli Research Institute on Membrane Technology, ITM-CNR, c/o University of Calabria, via P. Bucci cubo 17/C, 87030 Rende (CS) Italy- Tel: +39 0984 492010; Fax. +39 0984 402103 e-mail: [email protected]
ABSTRACT Polymeric membranes are widely used in biomedical field for bioartificial organs, medical devices and disposable clinical apparatus. Clinical utilization of blood-contacting devices requires the development of biomaterials with improved blood compatibility. The aim of this work was the exploration of a potential biocompatible membrane derived from a modified polyetheretherketone such as PEEK-WC. The surface affinity of this membrane to human plasma and plasmatic proteins such as albumin, fibrinogen and immunoglobulin G was compared to that of some commercial membranes. Changes with time of the membrane interfacial properties were evaluated by means of contact angle measurements using human protein solutions and human plasma. The extent of plasma protein adsorption on all investigated membranes was measured by comparing the behavior of the different polymer surfaces when contacting the three plasmatic proteins.
INTRODUCTION The clinical utilization of membranes in biomedical devices requires the development of polymeric materials with improved blood and cell compatibility [1-2]. Medical devices used inside the organism or extracorporeal devices must completely prevents the activation of the coagulation system and clot formation. New concept for making blood compatible polymeric materials and for modification of the conventional materials have been proposed [3-4]. We investigated as potential biomedical materials, novel polymeric membranes made of modified polyetheretherketone (PEEK-WC) and polyurethane (PU) prepared by phase inversion technique. PEEK-WC is a chemically stable polymer with excellent thermal and mechanical resistance. Owing to lack of cristallinity, differently from traditional PEEKs, PEEK-WC is soluble in various solvents. This property allows to use it for preparing membranes by phase inversion, a cheap and flexible method [5]. Our particular interest is the characterization of plasma protein interaction with PEEKWC and PU membranes considering the fundamental importance of plasma protein adsorption to blood-biomaterial interactions. The protein adsorption, which is the first event of a complicated sequence that leads to thrombus formation and immunoreactions, is dependent on surface properties of material [6-8]. For this purpose the changes of interfacial properties of membrane PEEK-WC and PU during protein and plasma adsorption were tested by contact angle measurements performed with protein solution and plasma. In this respect we compared the changes of adsorption data with those measured by using commercial membranes. Protein adhesion on a material express the protein affinity for the surface,
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