• Macromolecular Research
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.256-262
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of surface modification on the fibrovascular ingrowth into porous polyethylene (PE) spheres ($Medpor^{(R)}$), which are used as an anophthalmic socket implant material. To make the inert, hydrophobic PE surface hydrophilic, nonporous PE film and porous PE spheres were subjected to plasma treatment and in situ acrylic acid (AA) grafting followed by the immobilization of arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) peptide. The surface-modified PE was evaluated by performing surface analyses and tested for fibroblast adhesion and proliferation in vitro. In addition, the porous PE implants were inserted for up to 3 weeks in the abdominal area of rabbits and, after their retrieval, the level of fibrovascular ingrowth within the implants was assessed in vivo. As compared to the unmodified PE control, a significant increase in the hydrophilicity of both the AA-grafted (PE-g-PAA) and RGD-immobilized PE (PE-g-RGD) was observed by the measurement of the water contact angle. The cell adhesion at 72 h was most notable in the PE-g-RGD, followed by the PE-g-PAA and PE control. There was no significant difference between the two modified surfaces. When the cross-sectional area of tissue ingrowth in vivo was evaluated, the area of fibrovascularization was the largest with PE-g-RGD. The results of immunostaining of CD31, which is indicative of the degree of vascularization, showed that the RGD-immobilized surface could elicit more widespread fibrovascularization within the porous PE implants. This work demonstrates that the present surface modifications, viz. hydrophilic AA grafting and RGD peptide immobilization, can be very effective in inducing fibrovascular ingrowth into porous PE implants.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.193-196
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• 2004

The peptide Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) was immobilized through their amino terminus to ends of a sugar bearing copolymer, producing a functional hybrid copolymer. Poly(N-p-vinylbenzyl-D-maltonamide-co-6-(p-vinylbenzamido)-hexanoic acid-g-GRGDS) [p(VMA-co-VBGRGDS)] promoted the attachment and growth of NIH fibroblast cells. The interaction between fibroblast cells and p(VMA-co- VBGRGDS) copolymer resulted in effective cell attachment, proliferation, and morphological changes by introduction of a GRGDS sequence. Moreover, when pretreated with soluble RGD monomer, attachment of fibroblast cells was suppressed approximately 50% from that of the p(VMA-co-VBGRGDS) surface.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.446-452
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• 2005

The interactions between the surface of scaffolds and specific cells play an important role in tissue engineering applications. Some cell adhesive ligand peptides including Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) have been grafted into polymeric scaffolds to improve specific cell attachment. In order to make cell adhesive scaffolds for tissue regeneration, biodegradable nonporous poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) films were prepared by using a solvent casting technique with chloroform. The hydrophobic PLLA films were surface-modified by Argon plasma treatment and in situ direct acrylic acid (AA) grafting to get hydrophilic PLLA-g-PAA. The obtained carboxylic groups of PLLA-g-PAA were coupled with the amine groups of Gly-Arg-Asp-Gly (GRDG, control) and GRGD as a ligand peptide to get PLLA-g-GRDG and PLLA-g-GRGD, respectively. The surface properties of the modified PLLA films were examined by various surface analyses. The surface structures of the PLLA films were confirmed by ATR-FTIR and ESCA, whereas the immobilized amounts of the ligand peptides were 138-145 pmol/$cm^2$. The PLLA surfaces were more hydrophilic after AA and/or RGD grafting but their surface morphologies showed still relatively smoothness. Fibroblast adhesion to the PLLA surfaces was improved in the order of PLLA control