The surface stability of polymers with adsorbed fibronectin

✍ Scribed by Carey, Deborah H.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 118 KB
• Volume: 49
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-9304
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-4636(200001)49:1<12::aid-jbm2>3.0.co;2-y

✦ Synopsis

Linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), and polyethylene-coethacrylic acid (PE-EAA, 17.5% acid content) films were treated with an aqueous solution of fibronectin. Advancing contact angles of water ( a ) were used to monitor the change in the surface wettability of these films. With the exception of PE-EAA, all of the samples showed an increase in their wettability by water, indicating that the protein had adsorbed to the polymer surface. The stability of these proteinmodified films against a buffered aqueous solution and against air under ambient conditions was monitored over time. The surface wettability of these protein-modified polymers, with the exception of PS, remained unchanged after heating against the buffer solution. In air, however, a increased over a period of 2 months. In addition, the effect of organic solvent extraction on the surface stability of these protein-modified films was investigated. Unmodified samples of LLDPE, PS, and PP were subjected to soxhlet extraction to remove impurities and low-molecular-weight oligomers prior to film preparation and subsequent treatment with fibronectin. These samples were left in air under ambient conditions for 2 months. There was no difference in the magnitude of the change in a for the protein-modified, extracted LLDPE film compared to the protein-modified, nonextracted polymer film. A slight decrease in the rate of thermal reconstruction was observed for the proteinmodified extracted PS film compared to the proteinmodified nonextracted sample, and a slight increase in the rate of thermal reconstruction was observed for the proteinmodified extracted PP film compared to the proteinmodified nonextracted sample.