AVS 46th International Symposium
    Biomaterial Interfaces Group Monday Sessions
       Session BI-MoA

Paper BI-MoA10
Reduction of Protein Adsorption on Polyethylene Glycol Covered Silica Surfaces

Monday, October 25, 1999, 5:00 pm, Room 613/614

Session: Protein Solid-Surface Interactions I
Presenter: N.A. Alcantar, University of California at Santa Barbara
Authors: N.A. Alcantar, University of California at Santa Barbara
T.L. Kuhl, University of California at Santa Barbara
E.S. Aydil, University of California at Santa barbara
J.N. Israelachvili, University of California at Santa Barbara
Correspondent: Click to Email
Over the last decades, a large fraction of the scientific community has been dedicated to developing synthetic materials that can be used as implants or replacements for bones, organs, joints, tissues, skin, etc. These artificial materials must not only accomplish a specific function, but also be inert in the biological environment to which they are exposed. In general, the ability of a surface to reject proteins is a parameter used for determining its biocompatibility. Surfaces covered with polyethylene glycol (chemically (PEG, OH-(CH@sub 2@- CH@sub 2@-O)@sub n@-H) have been shown to be biocompatible as PEG enhances nonimmunogenecity, nonantigenicity and protein rejection. In order to produce a generic biocompatible surface coating, we have developed a direct method for grafting PEG onto amorphous activated silica surfaces or films. We first deposited an amorphous silica film by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition from SiH@sub 4@ and O@sub 2@ gases, which provides the flexibility to coat diverse materials with different shapes. These silica films were then activated by exposure to water plasma, thus increasing the number of hydroxyl groups on the surface. The silanols (Si-OH) on the resulting surface chemically react with the hydroxyl end of the PEG chain forming an ester bond, Si-O-C. The surface reaction was monitored using Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy. Two representative fluorophore-labeled proteins were used in this study because of its relatively abundance in the blood stream. Measurements of protein absorption by fluorescence microscopy showed that the PEG coated surfaces significantly inhibit protein adsorption.