posted on 2020-09-02, 02:13authored byPeter
Matthew Paul T. Fowler, Gian Vincent Dizon, Lemmuel L. Tayo, Alvin R. Caparanga, James Huang, Jie Zheng, Pierre Aimar, Yung Chang
Expanded polytetrafluoroethylene
(ePTFE) is one of the materials
widely used in the biomedical field, yet its application is being
limited by adverse reactions such as thrombosis when it comes in contact
with blood. Thus, a simple and robust way to modify ePTFE to be biologically
inert is sought after. Modification of ePTFE without high-energy pretreatment,
such as immersion coating, has been of interest to researchers for
its straightforward process and ease in scaling up. In this study,
we utilized a two-step immersion coating to zwitterionize ePTFE membranes.
The first coating consists of the co-deposition of polyethylenimine
(PEI) and polydopamine (PDA) to produce amine groups in the surface
of the ePTFE for further functionalization. These amine groups from
PEI will be coupled with the epoxide group of the zwitterionic copolymer,
poly(GMA-co-SBMA) (PGS), via a ring-opening reaction
in the second coating. The coated ePTFE membranes were physically
and chemically characterized to ensure that each step of the coating
is successful. The membranes were also tested for their thrombogenicity
via quantification of the blood cells attached to it during contact
with biological solutions. The coated membranes exhibited around 90%
reduction in attachment with respect to the uncoated ePTFE for both
Gram-positive and Gram-negative strains of bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia
coli). The coating was also able to resist blood cell
attachment from human whole blood by 81.57% and resist red blood cell
attachment from red blood cell concentrate by 93.4%. These ePTFE membranes,
which are coated by a simple immersion coating, show significant enhancement
of the biocompatibility of the membranes, which shows promise for
future use in biological devices.