The effect of plasma discharge treatment of a microporous polypropylene hollow-fiber membrane commonly used for gas exchange in a conventional artificial lung on the adhesion of endothelial cells was investigated with the aim of constructing a hybrid artificial lung bearing endothelial cells on the membrane. The initial adhesion density and growth rate of the cells on the membrane were markedly increased following plasma discharge treatment (13.56MHz, 30W) of the membrane for 5 to 20rain in the presence of 0.05 mmHg of various gases, such as ammonia, oxygen, and water vapor. Treatment of the membrane with ammonia for 5min resulted in the highest increase in the cell adhesion density on 5 days from 1.4 • 10 z to 2.0 • 10 3 cells/cm 2, and the cell density reached 5.0 • 10 3 cells/cm 2 after cultivation for 14 days. Increasing the inoculum cell concentration from 3.3 • 105 to 3.2 • 106 cells/ml resulted in an initial cell adhesion of 0.9 • 105 cells/cm 2, even after 1 day. It was observed under a microscope that the cells were distributed uniformly to cover almost all of the surface area of the membrane. After the plasma discharge treatment, the permeability of the membrane to water increased to 9% of that of a polyethylene hollow fiber having pore diameters larger than 0.4 ~tm.
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