Surface modification of polymers for biocompatibility via exposure to extreme ultraviolet radiation

Abstract

Polymeric biomaterials are being widely used for the treatment of various traumata, diseases and defects in human beings due to ease in their synthesis. As biomaterials have direct interaction with the extracellular environment in the biological world, biocompatibility is a topic of great significance. The introduction or enhancement of biocompatibility in certain polymers is still a challenge to overcome. Polymer biocompatibility can be controlled by surface modification Various physical and chemical methods (e.g., chemical and plasma treatment, ion implantation, and ultraviolet irradiation etc.) are in use or being developed for the modification of polymer surfaces. However an important limitation in their employment is the alteration of bulk material. Different surface and bulk properties of biomaterials are often desirable for biomedical applications. Because extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation penetration is quite limited even in low density mediums, it could be possible to use it for surface modification without influencing the bulk material. This article reviews the degree of biocompatibility of different polymeric biomaterials being currently employed in various biomedical applications, the surface properties required to be modified for biocompatibility control, plasma and laser ablation based surface modification techniques, and research studies indicating possible use of EUV for enhancing biocompatibility.

In vitrofibroblast and pre-osteoblastic cellular responses on laser surface modified Ti–6Al–4V

“…Among the above described methods, laser induced surface modification techniques have attracted enormous scientific interest. One of the most attractive features of laser processing is that the inherent biocompatibility of the starting material has been found to be not negatively affected during processing [21] and causes minimal contamination which promotes osteointegration and subsequent better implant stability [22][23][24][25]. Biocompatibility properties of laser modified surfaces have been extensively studied.…”

Modification of Polymer Substrates with Extreme Ultraviolet - Potential Application in Cancer Cell Identification

“…However, material selection for LOC substrates for particular biological applications is still a challenge due to indiscriminate biological models [1,2]. The foremost important characteristic required by any substrate is strong cell adhesion.…”

“…A number of surface treatment techniques were used and currently being developed. However, these techniques often require multi-stage treatments, long processing time and produce undesirable effects [2]. In this study, a potential application of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) surface structuring of * corresponding author; e-mail: inamul.ahad@dcu.ie polymers to be used as substrates for cancer cell investigations is presented.…”

Bioimaging Using Full Field and Contact EUV and SXR Microscopes with Nanometer Spatial Resolution

“…Some of these problems can be addressed employing double stream gas puff target laser plasma sources for microscopy purposes. Such a source, which has been developed initially for EUV metrology applications in the frame of MEDEA+ project [31], was also recently used for surface modification of polymers for biocompatibility improvement [32] or for radiobiology applications [33]. The double stream gas puff target sources, coupled with zone plates (FZPs) optics or as illumination sources for contact microscopy, represent a very useful technique for lab-scale analysis in order to perform high spatial resolution imaging by using short wavelength radiations.…”