Adhesive biocompatible polymers

Functional polymers are characterized by a specific property that has given rise to a particular application. Conducting polymers, photoactive polymers, thermostable polymers, adhesives, biocompatible polymers, and so on, belong to this category. 

Many kinds of nonbiodegradable vinyl-type hydrophilic polymers were also used in combination with aliphatic polyesters to prepare amphiphilic block copolymers. Two typical examples of the vinyl-polymers used are poly(/V-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) [149-152] and poly(2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine) (PMPC) [153]. PNIPAAm is well known as a temperature-responsive polymer and has been used in biomedicine to provide smart materials. Temperature-responsive nanoparticles or polymer micelles could be prepared using PNIPAAm-6-PLA block copolymers [149-152]. PMPC is also a well-known biocompatible polymer that suppresses protein adsorption and platelet adhesion, and has been used as the hydrophilic outer shell of polymer micelles consisting of a block copolymer of PMPC -co-PLA [153]. Many other vinyl-type polymers used for PLA-based amphiphilic block copolymers were also introduced in a recent review [16]. 

Hydrophobic polymer materials that slowly release N O can be used on the surface of medical devices. Many medical devices suffer from the surface adhesion of blood platelets. To minimize this thrombogenic effect, blood thinners such as heparin, coumarin, and aspirin are often used. However, systemic administration of antiplatelet agents could increase the risk of uncontrolled bleeding elsewhere in the body. In contrast, biocompatible polymer films would solve this problem [153]. It is possible to create polymeric surfaces that mimic the inner surface of a blood vessel by... 

In a previous section, the effect of plasma on PVA surface for pervaporation processes was also mentioned. In fact, plasma treatment is a surface-modification method to control the hydrophilicity-hydrophobicity balance of polymer materials in order to optimize their properties in various domains, such as adhesion, biocompatibility and membrane-separation techniques. Non-porous PVA membranes were prepared by the cast-evaporating method and covered with an allyl alcohol or acrylic acid plasma-polymerized layer the effect of plasma treatment on the increase of PVA membrane surface hydrophobicity was checked [37].The allyl alcohol plasma layer was weakly crosslinked, in contrast to the acrylic acid layer. The best results for the dehydration of ethanol were obtained using allyl alcohol treatment. The selectivity of treated membrane (H20 wt% in the pervaporate in the range 83-92 and a water selectivity, aH2o, of 250 at 25 °C) is higher than that of the non-treated one (aH2o = 19) as well as that of the acrylic acid treated membrane (aH2o = 22). 

Polymer films have unique properties including high aspect ratio, high flexibility, physical adhesion to ubiquitous surfaces, and attractive structural colors. The films can be formed from biodegradable and biocompatible polymer... 

Besides natural polymers, polyesters have also been associated with different synthetic polymers to produce scaffolds with combined properties. In their study, in order to improve the scaffold hydrophilicity, Shaffie and colleagues produced hybrid scaffolds using PCL and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) via co-electrospinning. PVA is a hydrophilic and also biodegradable and biocompatible polymer. The PCL/PVA scaffolds had a higher hydrophilicity and also supported a greater initial adhesion and proliferation rate of MSC than PCL scaffolds. When they... 

Immobilization of Cell Adhesion Mediators on Biocompatible Polymer Surfaces to Improve Cell Seeding... 

Moreover, tyrosinase-catalyzed activity is not limited only to protein substrates. Burke et al. have focused their work on the modification of biocompatible polymers such as poly(ethylene glycol) with DOPA in an effort to impart adhesive qualities to the polymers for biomedical application. Although PEG itself is not adhesive, it represents a candidate budding block for a synthetic tissue adhesive because of its high water solubility, low immunogenicity and toxicity, and availability of end groups easily modifiable with amino acids and peptides [61]. Burke et al. [12] synthesized several linear and branched PEG molecules with end groups modified by DOPA residues and have characterized their oxidation-induced... 

Gulati, K., Ramakrishnan, S., Aw, M.S., et al. Biocompatible polymer coating of titania nanotube arrays for improved drug elution and osteoblast adhesion. Acta Biomater. 8, 449-456 (2012). doi 10.1016/j.actbio.2011.09.004... 

Very little of the research that has been done on these proteins has involved the use of electrochemical techniques. Instead, ellipsometry, FTIR/ATR spectroscopy, radioactive labeling, and photon correlation spectroscopy have been used. Many of the studies have been directed toward the development of biocompatible polymer surfaces. The first event that takes place after contact of blood or plasma with an artificial surface is the rapid adsorption of proteins from the blood onto the material surface. It is generally assumed that all subsequent events, such as platelet adhesion and surface activation of blood coagulation, are determined by the composition and structure of the initially adsorbed protein layer. It is known from in vitro experiments that the adhesion of platelets is promoted when fibrinogen has been adsorbed on a material surface and that platelet adhesion is reduced when preadsorbed albumin is present on the surface. In a study of the adsorption behavior of three of the more abundant... 

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