Gradient Surfaces as Tools to Study Biocompatibility

Abstract

It is recognized that the behavior of the adsorption and desorption of blood proteins or the adhesion and proliferation of different types of mammalian cells on polymeric materials depend on the surface characteristics such as wettability, chemistry, charge, dynamics, roughness, and rigidity. In this study, we prepared wettability gradients, chargeable functional group gradients, and comb-like polyethylene oxide (PEO) gradients on low density polyethylene (PE) surfaces. Gradient surfaces whose properties are changed gradually along the material length are of particular interest for basic studies of the interaction between biological species and surfaces since the effect of a selected property can be examined in a single experiment on one surface. We used the gradient surfaces prepared as tools investigate protein or cell interactions continuously related to the surface wettability, chemistry and charge, or dynamics of polymeric materials.