title: Viscoelastic properties of fibrinogen adsorbed to the surface of biomaterials used in blood-contacting medical devices.
abstract: The hemocompatibility of polymeric vascular implants is in part dependent on the propensity of fibrinogen to adsorb to the implant surface. Fibrinogen surface adsorption was measured in real time using a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D). Six new, biodegradable tyrosine-derived polycarbonates were used as test surfaces. Stainless steel, poly(L-lactic acid), poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide), and poly(ethylene terephthalate) surfaces served as controls and provided a comparison of the test surfaces with those of commonly used biomaterials. Our study addressed the question regarding to which extent systematic variations in polymer structure can be used to optimize X-ray visibility and provide tunable degradation rates while generating protein-repellant surface properties that minimize fibrinogen adsorption. QCM-D revealed surface-dependent changes in fibrinogen layer thickness (2 to 37 nm), adsorbed wet mass (0.2 to 4.3 microg/cm2), and viscosity (0.001 to 0.005 kg/ms). While we did not find an overall correlation between surface air-water contact angle measurements and fibrinogen adsorption (R2 = 0.08), our data demonstrate that gradually increasing the poly(ethylene glycol) content within a subgroup of polymers having the same polymer backbone will lead to decreased fibrinogen adsorption. Within this subgroup of polymers, there was a strong correlation between decreasing air-water contact angles and decreasing fibrinogen adsorption (R2 = 0.95). We conclude that it is possible to minimize fibrinogen adsorption to tyrosine-derived polycarbonates while optimizing X-ray visibility and degradation rates. Some of the tyrosine-derived polycarbonates were identified as useful materials for the design of blood-contacting implants on the basis of their substantially lower levels of fibrinogen adsorption relative to the commonly used controls.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and New Jersey Center for Biomaterials, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 145 Bevier Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA.
authors.forename: Norbert
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.forename: Aaron
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pesnell
authors.forename: Durgadas
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bolikal
authors.forename: Joan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zeltinger
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kohn
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D001769:Blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D004203:Disinfection / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D004548:Elasticity; D004867:Equipment Design; D005340:Fibrinogen / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D011076:Polycarboxylate Cement / Q000737:chemistry; D011108:Polymers; D019736:Prostheses and Implants; D013242:Sterilization / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D013499:Surface Properties; D014443:Tyrosine / Q000737:chemistry; D014783:Viscosity
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D011076:Polycarboxylate Cement; D011108:Polymers; C005506:polycarbonate; D014443:Tyrosine; D005340:Fibrinogen