Abstract
Platelet adhesion onto elastic polymeric biomaterials was tested in vitro by perfusing human whole blood at a shear rate of 100 sec$\^$-1/ for possible verification of mechanisms of initial platelet adhesion perfusion of blood on the polymeric substrates was performed after treatments either with or without pre-adsorption of 1% blood plasma, and either with or without residence of the protein-preadsorbed substrate in phosphate buffered solution. The surfaces employed were elastic polymers such as poly(ether urethane urea), poly(ether urethane), silicone urethane copolymer, silicone rubber and poly(ether urethane) with the anti-calcifying agent hydroxyethane bisphosphate. Each polymer surface treated was exposed in vitro to the dynamic, heparinized whole blood perfused for upto 6 min and the surface area of platelets initially adhered was measured by employing in situ epifluorescence video microscopy. The blood perfusion was performed on the surfaces treated at the following three different conditions: directly on the bare surfaces, after protein pre-adsorption and after residence in buffer for 3 days of the surfaces protein pre-adsorbed for 2 h. The effects of blood plasma pre-adsorption on the initial platelet adhesion was surface-dependent. The amount of the adsorbed fibrinogen and the surface coverage area of the adhered platelets were dependent on the surface conditions whether substrates were bare surfaces or protein pre-adsorbed ones. To test an effect of possible morphological (re)orientations of the adsorbed proteins on the initial platelet adhesion, the polymeric substrate pre-adsorbed with 1% blood plasma was immersed in phosphate buffered solution for 3 days and then exposed to physiological blood perfusion. The surface area of the platelets adhered on these surfaces was significantly different from that of the surfaces treated with protein pre-adsorption only. These results indicated that platelet adhesion was dependent on the surface property itself and pre-treatment conditions such as blood perfusion without any pre-adsorption of proteins, and blood perfusion either after protein pre-adsorption or after subsequent substrate residence in buffer of the substrate pre-adsorbed with proteins. Understanding of these results may guide for better designs of blood-contacting materials based on protein behaviors.