Plasma surface modification and characterization of collagen‐based artificial cornea for enhanced epithelialization

Abstract

Argon plasma treatment enhanced the attachment of epithelial cells to a collagen-based artificial cornea crosslinked using glutaraldehyde (GA) and glutaraldehyde-polyethylene oxide dialdehyde (GA-PEODA) systems. The epithelialization of untreated and treated surfaces was evaluated by the seeding and growth of human corneal epithelial cells. Characterization of polymer surface properties such as surface hydrophilicity and roughness was also made by contact angle measurement and atomic force microscopy, respectively. Contact angle analysis revealed that the surface hydrophilicity significantly increased after the treatment. In addition, AFM characterization showed an increase in surface roughness through argon plasma treatment. Based on the biological and surface analysis, argon plasma treatment displays promising potential for biocompatibility enhancement of collagenbased artificial corneas. It was also found that the cell attachment to artificial cornea surfaces was influenced by the combined effects of surface chemistry (i.e., surface energy), polymer surface morphology (i.e., surface roughness), and polar interactions between functional groups at the polymer surface and cell membrane proteins.

Evaluation of plasma treatment effects on improving adhesive–dentin bonding by using the same tooth controls and varying cross‐sectional surface areas

“…These active species in argon plasmas can react with the treated surface and thus modify the surface chemistry and properties without affecting the bulk material properties . It has been reported that, after treatment with argon plasma, the water contact angle of the collagen surface is significantly decreased . The dentin surface contains a fibrous collagen network, after removal of drilling debris and some surface minerals by acid etching.…”

“…The bonding strength of specimens with an interface area of 1 mm 2 ranged from 40 to 60 MPa. When the interface area was increased to 2 mm 2 , the bonding strength decreased to [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] MPa. This is probably a result of the presence of a greater number of defects in specimens with a large bonding surface area (10).…”

Hydrogel membranes based on genipin-cross-linked chitosan blends for corneal epithelium tissue engineering

“…The examples of the former are modified and unmodified copolymers of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) and methyl methacrylate (MMA) [ 2 ]. Natural polymers used for the fabrication of scaffolds include gelatin and chondroitin sulfate [ 17 ], silk fibroin [ 18 ], recombinant human collagen [ 19 ], and argon plasma treated collagen [ 20 ].…”

Cell Proliferation of HaCaT Keratinocytes on Collagen Films Modified by Argon Plasma Treatment

“…Noble gases-based plasma treatment has widely been used in a diversity of applications, e.g., surface modification of polymers [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ], glass [ 18 ], carbon fibres [ 19 ], superconductors [ 20 ], metal and alloys [ 21 , 22 ], and textiles [ 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 ]. As for medical uses, there are several studies conducted on cleaning surfaces [ 27 , 28 , 29 ] and cell attachment [ 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 ]. In this contribution, focus is directed onto the surface modification via argon plasma treatment and examination of keratinocyte human cell growth on atelocollagen surfaces which has not yet been done.…”