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Plasma surface modification of polylactic acid to promote interaction with fibroblasts

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Abstract

In this work, medium pressure plasma treatment of polylactic acid (PLA) is investigated. PLA is a biocompatible aliphatic polymer, which can be used for bone fixation devices and tissue engineering scaffolds. Due to inadequate surface properties, cell adhesion and proliferation are far less than optimal and a surface modification is required for most biomedical applications. By using a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) operating at medium pressure in different atmospheres, the surface properties of a PLA foil are modified. After plasma treatment, water contact angle measurements showed an increased hydrophilic character of the foil surface. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed an increased oxygen content. Cell culture tests showed that plasma modification of PLA films increased the initial cell attachment both quantitatively and qualitatively. After 1 day, cells on plasma-treated PLA showed a superior cell morphology in comparison with unmodified PLA samples. However, after 7 days of culture, no significant differences were observed between untreated and plasma-modified PLA samples. While plasma treatment improves the initial cell attachment, it does not seem to influence cell proliferation. It has also been observed that the difference between the 3 discharge gases is negligible when looking at the improved cell-material interactions. From economical point of view, plasma treatments in air are thus the best choice.

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Acknowledgments

R. Morent acknowledges the support of the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) for a post-doctoral research fellowship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Unit Plasma Technology (RUPT), Department of Applied Physics, Faculty of Engineering, Ghent University, Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 41, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Tinneke Jacobs, Nathalie De Geyter, Christophe Leys & Rino Morent

  2. Department of Basic Medical Science, Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, Ghent Universtity, De Pintelaan 185 6B3, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Heidi Declercq & Ria Cornelissen

  3. Polymer Chemistry and Biomaterials Group, Department of Organic Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281 S4, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Peter Dubruel

  4. Unité de Catalyse et Chimie du Solide, UMR CNRS 8181, Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille, Bât. C3, Cité Scientifique, 59655, Villeneuve d’Ascq, France

    Arnaud Beaurain & Edmond Payen

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  1. Tinneke Jacobs
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  2. Heidi Declercq
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Correspondence to Rino Morent.

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Jacobs, T., Declercq, H., De Geyter, N. et al. Plasma surface modification of polylactic acid to promote interaction with fibroblasts. J Mater Sci: Mater Med 24, 469–478 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10856-012-4807-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10856-012-4807-z

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