Investigating the relationship between surface chemistry and endothelial cell growth: partial least-squares regression of the static secondary ion mass spectra of oxygen-containing plasma-deposited films.

The relationship between endothelial cell growth and surface properties of plasma-deposited films (PDFs) was investigated using partial least-squares regression (PLS). PDFs of oxygen-containing precursors were prepared under various conditions, and bovine arterial endothelial cells (BAECs) were grown on these substrates. Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) in the static mode was used to characterize the surface chemistry of these substrates. The growth of BAECs on the PDFs was correlated to the positive and negative static SIMS spectra of the PDFs by PLS. A good correlation between the SIMS spectra of PDFs and endothelial cell growth was obtained. Qualitative information was also extracted from the multivariate model, giving some information as to the most important variables influencing BAEC growth.