Polymer coatings for biomedical applications: a review

Abstract

This review surveys some of the recent literature concerning the use of polymer coatings for a variety of biomedical applications. These have been grouped into six broad categories: orthopaedic materials, cardiovascular stents, antibacterial surfaces, drug delivery, tissue engineering and biosensors. These, to some extent overlapping, sections have been ordered such that the literature generally progresses from polymer coatings on metallic to non-metallic substrates. Polymer coatings can bestow a wide-range of functionalities due to their various properties, such as anti-wear and characteristics, mechanical strength, corrosion protection, electrical conductivity, biocompatibility and surface chemistry. The review period is from 2011 to the present (2013).

Probing polydopamine adhesion to protein and polymer films: microscopic and spectroscopic evaluation

“…The ideal coating for a biomedical device should be non-toxic, non-inflammatory, resistant to bacterial colonisation and support growth of host cells to improve integration [1]. The use of a coating allows the device interface to have favourable properties with the biological environment, even if the coating material is not the most appropriate for the core, exemplified by coated stainless steel cardiovascular stents which have appropriate biomechanical properties of the metal core.…”

Electrodeposited conductive polymers for controlled drug release: polypyrrole

“…Smith and Lamprou [38] have revised the applications of polymer coatings for a variety of biomedical applications including drug delivery and highlighted the main goals as the improvement of bioavailability. They also pointed out that these systems could decrease toxicity and the side effects associated to traditional methods providing protection and preservation of the drugs until they reach their target.…”

Advances in Controlled Drug Delivery for Treatment of Osteoporosis

“…Drug targeting allows for selective local activity of therapeutic agents that minimizes nonspecific interactions and systemic toxicity. As described in Section 3.1, bisphosphonates possess an innate affinity for bone, and are prime examples of bone-targeted drugs, displaying binding affinity for bone calcium so strong that it actually interferes with ability of the bisphosphonate to interact with the desired protein targets [88]. Exploitation of the calcium affinity of phosphate groups allows enhancement of bone targeting via covalent substitution of carboxylic acids on bioactive molecule [88].…”

“…As described in Section 3.1, bisphosphonates possess an innate affinity for bone, and are prime examples of bone-targeted drugs, displaying binding affinity for bone calcium so strong that it actually interferes with ability of the bisphosphonate to interact with the desired protein targets [88]. Exploitation of the calcium affinity of phosphate groups allows enhancement of bone targeting via covalent substitution of carboxylic acids on bioactive molecule [88]. The addition of monophosphate functionality has been demonstrated to significantly improve hydroxyapatite binding affinity of benzoindole, salicylic acid, and quinolone compounds by Jahnke et al, who also demonstrate that the binding affinity improves with addition of flexible bridging chains between the phosphate group and core molecule, with direct attachment of phosphate groups to aromatic rings failing to confer bone specificity [88].…”