Nanostructured biofunctionalized polyurethanes for applications in regenerative medicine
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Nanostructured biofunctionalized polyurethanes for applications in regenerative medicine Sebastian Kruss1,2 and Tobias Wolfram3 1
Department of New Materials and Biosystems, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Heisenbergstr. 3, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany 2 Biophysical Chemistry, Institute of Physical Chemistry, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 253, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany 3 Hochschule Furtwangen, Jakob-Kienzle-Str. 17, 78054 Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany ABSTRACT Polyurethane (PU) materials are used in a wide variety of implantable devices and technologies, e.g. stents, breast augmentation, nose surgery and bladder reconstruction. Despite the excellent chemical control for manufacturing bulk materials and the good biocompatibility, a major challenge remains interfacing of PU with biological environments. A chemically controlled surface engineering approach could improve desired protein adsorption processes and cellular interactions within different tissues, preventing uncontrolled events of the implant especially in early stages shortly after surgical procedures. To gain better control over the PU surfaces we polymerized different bulk PU materials and developed a transfer-nanolithography technique to deposit inorganic Au-nanoparticles with defined structural features on the PU surface. Different nanoparticle patterns were transferred and analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). Topographical features of PU substrates were investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM). Transferred Au-nanoparticles showed high stability on PU substrates even under extreme sonication conditions. In a final step, those nanoparticles were functionalized with peptides to facilitate cellular adhesion under physiologically relevant conditions. As proof of concept, rat embryonic fibroblast cells were cultured on a peptide functionalized PU interface and investigated by SEM. In conclusion, we developed a versatile method to prepare nanostructured and biofunctionalized PUs. These PUs showed good stability characteristics and in vitro biocompatibility in cell culture assays. INTRODUCTION In the last decade tremendous progress has been made in the field of micro- and nanostructuring of interfaces. Such interfaces are of great importance for biomedical applications because these surfaces are responsible for the initial contact of the biomaterial with extracellular components, cells, and tissues. Materials for biomedical applications are in particular need of surface specific engineering approaches to fulfill the requirements of biocompatibility. PUs are an important class of polymers and widely used in the biomedical device industry for products, which are in short-term as well as in long-term contact with different tissues of the human body [1,2]. Despite these facts, producing PU materials with controlled surface biofunctionalization and without changing the bulk properties of PUs remains a major goal for medical applications. New approaches are nece
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