Study of the effects of nanostructuring of polymer surfaces on cellular proliferation and alignment

• Main Author: Chia, Ngeow Khing.
• Other Authors: Subramanian Venkatraman
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Materials::Nanostructured materials
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/51131
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Synthetic bioabsorbable polymers have been increasingly investigated as an alternative material for cardiovascular applications, attributed to their bioabsorbable and mechanical properties. However endothelialization on these bioabsorbable polymers appears difficult due to their poor cell affinity and their surface roughness. This research project seeks to study how two different surface modification techniques, namely electron beam irradiation (ebeam) with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) treatment and electron beam writing (EBW), have an effect on endothelial cell-surface interaction and subsequent cell growth. The substrate material candidates chosen in this study are poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) co-polymer and poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) polymer, because of their prevalent use as blood contacting devices in cardiovascular applications. In this work, randomized pattern obtained using electron beam irradiation with sodium hydroxide treatment (NaOH), was compared against a nano-dimensional groove pattern created by electron beam writing (EBW) for their influences on endothelial cell proliferation and alignment on its films.