title: Amphiphilic Nucleating Agents to Enhance Calcium Phosphate Growth on Polymeric Surfaces.
abstract: Poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) is an aliphatic polyester widely explored in the preparation of guided bone regeneration (GBR) membranes because of its interesting mechanical properties and biodegradability. However, PCL high hydrophobicity often impairs cell adhesion and proliferation as well as calcium phosphate growth, all of which are crucial to achieving suitable bone-tissue integration. In this work, aimed at achieving less-hydrophobic surfaces, amphiphilic molecules were added at low concentrations to the polymeric dope solutions that generated the GBR membranes. During membrane formation, these molecules migrate to the solution/air interface in such a way that, upon liquid-solid phase transition, the negatively charged heads are exposed while the apolar tails are anchored to the polymer bulk. As a consequence, these molecules became nucleating agents for subsequent calcium phosphate growth using an alternating soaking process. Herein, PCL porous membranes containing different amphiphilic molecules, such as stearic acid and bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate, were investigated. This new, simple, and atoxic method to superficially treat polymeric membranes could be extended to a wide range of polymers and applications.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, University of Campinas , P.O. Box 6154, Campinas 13083-970, Brazil.
authors.forename: Laura C E
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-9191-3440
authors.initials: LCE
authors.lastname: da Silva
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medical Sciences, Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo - PUC-SP , Sorocaba 18030-095, Brazil.
authors.forename: Bruna A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Más
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medical Sciences, Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo - PUC-SP , Sorocaba 18030-095, Brazil.
authors.forename: Eliana A R
authors.initials: EAR
authors.lastname: Duek
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Surface Physics, Department of Applied Physics, "Gleb Wataghin" Institute of Physics, University of Campinas , P.O. Box 6165, Campinas 13083-859, Brazil.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Landers
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, University of Campinas , P.O. Box 6154, Campinas 13083-970, Brazil.
authors.forename: Celso A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Bertran
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, University of Campinas , P.O. Box 6154, Campinas 13083-970, Brazil.
authors.forename: Maria C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Gonçalves