AVS 52nd International Symposium
    Plasma Science and Technology Tuesday Sessions
       Session PS+BI-TuM

Invited Paper PS+BI-TuM7
Biological Response to Plasma Processed Materials

Tuesday, November 1, 2005, 10:20 am, Room 302

Session: Plasmas in Bioscience
Presenter: L.C. Lopez, University of Bari, Italy
Authors: L.C. Lopez, University of Bari, Italy
R. Gristina, CNR-IMIP Bari, Italy
L. Detomaso, University of Bari, Italy
P. Favia, University of Bari, Italy
R. d'Agostino, University of Bari, Italy
Correspondent: Click to Email
The demand of biomedical implants significantly increases every year and several approaches have been investigated to develop surfaces which are recognized by specific proteins of the biological milieu, ranging from template materials, to surfaces that mimic receptor sites, to biologically inspired materials. Other surface modifications approaches deal, instead, with the immobilization of biomolecules (heparine, carbohydrates, peptides, enzymes, etc.) on biomedical surfaces, to induce the growth of cells, to act as sensors in immunodiagnostics or to exhibit blood compatibility. Low temperature plasma modification processes represent an appealing tool, versatile and environmental friendly, to selectively modify materials to be used for medical devices. Surface properties of biomaterials (chemical, biological, tribological) can be selectively plasma driven to achieve specific biological response, leaving the bulk features unaltered.@footnote 1@ Furthermore, a promising strategy to control the interaction between biomaterials and biological environments, applies to binding of biomolecules to plasma modified polymers by a stable bond with surface functional groups (OH, COOH, NH@sub2@, etc.).@footnote 2@ RGD-containing peptides and galactose immobilization on plasma processed substrates, recently investigated in our group, clearly highlighted a strict correlation between specific cellular behaviour and immobilised molecules. These results plainly indicate that coupling plasma modification processes with precise biomolecules immobilization pathways may represent a successful approach to address biocompatibility and biorecognition requirements of biomaterials. @FootnoteText@ @footnote 1@ B.D. Ratner in: Plasma Processing of Polymers, R. d'Agostino, P. Favia, F. Fracassi ed., Kluwer Acad. Publ., NATO ASI Series, E: Appl. Sci., Vol. 346, 1997.@footnote 2@ L. C. Lopez, R. Gristina, G. Ceccone, F. Rossi, P. Favia, R. d'Agostino Surface and Coatings Technology, 2005, in press.