Stability of plasma-functionalized polymers for vascular grafts represents a major concern for future application of our technology in clinical praxis. According to recent hypotheses optimal hemocompatibility is often achieved by addition of sulphur-containing functional groups. In order to understand behavior of sulphur-containing polymers activated by brief treatment with oxygen plasma we performed systematic study on stability of such treatments. The materials were functionalized at room temperature, inserted in the XPS spectrometer and heated in-situ during measurements of the photoelectron spectra. Rather good stability was found by the temperature of almost 400 K indicating much better properties of such polymers than polyethylene terephthalate which is frequently used for synthesis of artificial blood vessels.
COBISS.SI-ID: 26592039
Materials suitable for coating cardiovascular implants should be antibacterial in order to be used in medical praxis. In order to achieve this effect we invented an multi-step technique comprising of surface activation using oxygen-containing gaseous plasma and subsequent deposition of ultra-thin films. Three monomers (allylamine, N-allylmethylamine and N,N-dimethylallylamine) were used for grafting onto plasma activated LDPE surface. Antibacterial agent triclosan was anchored on such substrates. Excellent results were obtained on low-density polyethylene substrates tested in vitro by inhibition zone method on agar plates for Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli strains.
COBISS.SI-ID: 26378791