Safinia Laleh, Wilson Karen, Mantalaris Athanassios, Bismarck Alexander
Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London, UK.
Macromol Biosci. 2007 Mar 8;7(3):315-27. doi: 10.1002/mabi.200600175.
Porous 3D polymer scaffolds prepared by TIPS from PLGA (53:47) and PS are intrinsically hydrophobic which prohibits the wetting of such porous media by water. This limits the application of these materials for the fabrication of scaffolds as supports for cell adhesion/spreading. Here we demonstrate that the interior surfaces of polymer scaffolds can be effectively modified using atmospheric air plasma (AP). Polymer films (2D) were also modified as control. The surface properties of wet 2D and 3D scaffolds were characterised using zeta-potential and wettability measurements. These techniques were used as the primary screening methods to assess surface chemistry and the wettability of wet polymer constructs prior and after the surface treatment. The surfaces of the original polymers are rather hydrophobic as highlighted but contain acidic functional groups. Increased exposure to AP improved the water wetting of the treated surfaces because of the formation of a variety of oxygen and nitrogen containing functions. The morphology and pore structure was assessed using SEM and a liquid displacement test. The PLGA and PS foam samples have central regions which are open porous interconnected networks with maximum pore diameters of 49 microm for PLGA and 73 microm for PS foams.
通过热致相分离法（TIPS）由聚乳酸-羟基乙酸共聚物（PLGA，比例为53:47）和聚苯乙烯（PS）制备的多孔三维聚合物支架本质上是疏水的，这使得水无法润湿这种多孔介质。这限制了这些材料在制造用于细胞黏附/铺展支撑的支架方面的应用。在此，我们证明了使用常压空气等离子体（AP）可以有效地修饰聚合物支架的内表面。还对聚合物薄膜（二维）进行了修饰作为对照。使用zeta电位和润湿性测量来表征湿态二维和三维支架的表面性质。这些技术被用作主要的筛选方法，以评估表面处理前后湿态聚合物构建体的表面化学性质和润湿性。如前所述，原始聚合物的表面相当疏水，但含有酸性官能团。由于形成了各种含氧和含氮官能团，增加对AP的暴露改善了处理后表面的水润湿性。使用扫描电子显微镜（SEM）和液体置换试验评估了形态和孔结构。PLGA和PS泡沫样品具有中心区域，这些区域是开放的多孔互连网络，PLGA泡沫的最大孔径为49微米，PS泡沫的最大孔径为73微米。
