Chen Mary Jialu, Pappas Georgios A, Massella Daniele, Schlothauer Arthur, Motta Sarah E, Falk Volkmar, Cesarovic Nikola, Ermanni Paolo
Laboratory of Composite Materials and Adaptive Structures, ETH Zürich, Switzerland.
Laboratory of Composite Materials and Adaptive Structures, ETH Zürich, Switzerland.
Biomater Adv. 2023 Mar;146:213288. doi: 10.1016/j.bioadv.2023.213288. Epub 2023 Jan 13.
Polymers have the potential to replace metallic or bioprosthetic heart valve components due to superior durability and inertness while allowing for native tissue-like flexibility. Despite these appealing properties, certain polymers such as polyetheretherketone (PEEK) have issues with hemocompatibility, which have previously been addressed through assorted complex processes. In this paper, we explore the enhancement of PEEK hemocompatibility with polymer crystallinity. Amorphous, semi-crystalline and crystalline PEEK are investigated in addition to a highly crystalline carbon fiber (CF)/PEEK composite material (CFPEEK). The functional group density of the PEEK samples is determined, showing that higher crystallinity results in increased amount of surface carbonyl functional groups. The increase of crystallinity (and negatively charged groups) appears to cause significant reductions in platelet adhesion (33 vs. 1.5 % surface coverage), hemolysis (1.55 vs. 0.75 %∙cm), and thrombin generation rate (4840 vs. 1585 mU/mL/min/cm). In combination with the hemocompatibility study, mechanical characterization demonstrates that tailoring crystallinity is a simple and effective method to control both hemocompatibility and mechanical performance of PEEK. Furthermore, the results display that CFPEEK composite performed very well in all categories due to its enhanced crystallinity and complete carbon encapsulation, allowing the unique properties of CFPEEK to empower new concepts in cardiovascular device design.
聚合物由于具有卓越的耐久性和惰性，同时具备类似天然组织的柔韧性，因而有潜力取代金属或生物假体心脏瓣膜组件。尽管具有这些吸引人的特性，但某些聚合物，如聚醚醚酮（PEEK），存在血液相容性问题，此前已通过各种复杂工艺来解决。在本文中，我们探讨了通过聚合物结晶度来提高PEEK的血液相容性。除了高度结晶的碳纤维（CF）/PEEK复合材料（CFPEEK）外，还研究了非晶态、半结晶态和结晶态的PEEK。测定了PEEK样品的官能团密度，结果表明，结晶度越高，表面羰基官能团的数量就越多。结晶度（以及带负电荷基团）的增加似乎会导致血小板粘附（表面覆盖率从33%降至1.5%）、溶血（从1.55%∙cm降至0.75%∙cm）和凝血酶生成率（从4840 mU/mL/min/cm降至1585 mU/mL/min/cm）显著降低。结合血液相容性研究，力学表征表明，调整结晶度是控制PEEK血液相容性和力学性能简单而有效的方法。此外，结果显示，CFPEEK复合材料在所有方面都表现出色，这归因于其增强的结晶度和完全的碳包覆，使CFPEEK的独特性能能够为心血管装置设计中的新概念提供支持。
