Synthesis and performance of amphiphilic copolymers for blood cell separation

Abstract

Three types of amphiphilic copolymers using n-butylmethacrylate (BMA) as a hydrophobic monomer, and each of N,N'-dimethylacrylamide (DMA), N-acryloylmorpholine (AMO), and N-vinylpyrrolidone (VP) as hydrophilic comonomers were synthesized for coating filters used to remove leukocytes. The influence of the amphiphilic property of the resulting filters, which were composed of nonwoven fabrics coated with the above copolymers, on leukocyte removal and platelet permeation through the filters from whole blood was investigated. The platelet permeation ratio through hydrophobic noncoated filters was only 0.2%, because platelets in whole blood adhered easily to the hydrophobic filter material. However, filters coated with poly(AMO-co-BMA) of high AMO content showed a much higher platelet permeation ratio (nearly 90%). Further, the filters coated with poly(DMA-co-BMA) also showed high permeation ratios of platelets (more than 78%) over a broad range of DMA content in the copolymer. On the other hand, the coated filters showed slightly a higher permeation ratio of leukocytes than did the noncoated filters, resulting from the increase in hydrophilicity of the surface of the filters. Moreover, the coating of the amphiphilic copolymers on the surface of the nonwoven fabrics may have affected the pore size of the filters, affecting the permeation ratio of leukocytes more strongly than that of platelets. The coated filters effectively improved platelet permeation through the filters, with a slight increase in the permeation ratio of leukocytes.

Poly(N‐acryloylmorpholine): A simple hydrogel system for temporal and spatial control over cell adhesion

“…These observations indicate together with the saltatory motion seen by cells moving over PNAM covered surfaces (see Supporting Information movie 2) that adhesions seem to be less stable allowing spreading only to a limited extent. The cells growth and ongoing divisions in close proximity to or on PNAM covered areas (see Supporting Information movie 1) indicate that the polymer, albeit acting as a temporary barrier to cell adhesion, is not toxic for the cells, which is in line with previous reports of limited toxicity for NAM containing copolymers . It is also worth highlighting that although the PNAM does contain unreacted monomer (∼12%)—acrylate monomers are generally toxic—the monomer appears to have little effect on cell viability, although a more in‐depth cytotoxicity study is required to elucidate NAM effects on cells.…”

“…The cells growth and ongoing divisions in close proximity to or on PNAM covered areas (see Supporting Information movie 1) indicate that the polymer, albeit acting as a temporary barrier to cell adhesion, is not toxic for the cells, which is in line with previous reports of limited toxicity for NAM containing copolymers. 16,17 It is also worth highlighting that although the PNAM does contain unreacted monomer (12%)-acrylate monomers are generally toxic-the monomer appears to have little effect on cell viability, although a more in-depth cytotoxicity study is required to elucidate NAM effects on cells. Interestingly, polyacrylates frequently have varying degrees of unreacted monomer, which are not indicated as having an effect in cell adhesion studies.…”

Blood cell separation using amphiphilic copolymers containing N,N‐dimethylacrylamide

“…In the present study with 32-sheet stacks of the filter coated with DB40, a (55 6 10)% platelet permeation ratio and a 3.23 6 0.45 logarithmic reduction of leukocytes were observed as in Table III, although DB40-coated filter showed a 79% platelet permeation ratio and a 1.2 logarithmic reduction of leukocytes in the previous simplified system with four-sheet stacks of the coated filter. 16 The increase in the number of stacked sheets thus proved to improve the logarithmic reduction of leukocytes remarkably, but lowered the platelet permeation to some extent. This implies that BMA units in DB40 may be slightly too hydrophobic for the platelet permeation.…”

“…16 They were immersed in a copolymer solution (3, 5, or 10 wt % in EtOH) in a glass vial. The vial was placed in an ultrasonic generator to degas the filters for 30 min.…”

“…A high recovery ratio of platelets and high leukocyte removal ability are necessary for successful separation of whole blood, and thus coating materials as well as filter materials must be properly designed. Only a few researchers have investigated whole blood filters for leukocyte removal, [14][15][16] and it has not yet been clarified how the surface properties of such filters affect leukocyte removal and platelet permeation.…”