Fractal dimension analysis: A link between porous polystyrene films patterns and cancer cell patterns

Abstract

To produce patterns of porous polystyrene films that can be used as standards to be compared with cancer cell patterns, thin films were made by dissolving polystyrene (PS) and polybutylmethacrylate (PBMA) in tetrahydrofuran, then PBMA phase was removed using acetic acid (AA) to generate rough surfaces. The mixture of %PS/%PBMA was formed from the following weight ratios 1/99, 5/95,…, 90/10, 99/1. The highest water contact angle (WCA) for 40/60 porous polystyrene film was (139.4 ± 1 ), exceeding the WCA of the film before removing the PBMA by 95.2 ± 0.2 ; at the same concentration, the film roughness increases 80% by removing the PBMA. The topography of porous polystyrene films is similar to that of cancer cells and the fractal dimension (D f ) of the 20/80, 30/70, 35/65, 38/62, 40/60, 43/57, 45/55, and 50/50 porous polystyrene films range between 1.6 and 2, which agrees with those reported in the literature for cancerous structures. Thus, D f data and polystyrene film topography with different porosity degrees can be used as patterns in digital recognition techniques for cancer diagnosis.