The effect of surface hydrogen bonding (acid-base interaction) on the hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity of copolymers: Variation of contact angles and cell adhesion and growth with composition

摘要

The dependence of cell or bacteria adhesion and growth on the polarity of a polymer substrate, as controlled by the composition of a HEMA-EMA copolymer, has been studied by contact angle measurements. These have been analyzed by the acid/base hydrogen bonding methodology of van Oss, et al. It was found that adhesion and growth of mouse 3T3 cells occurred on surfaces for which the acidic parameter, gamma(s)(+), was negligibly small. This was the case above 50% EMA, for which y(+) was zero, and both attachment and growth occurred. The gamma(-) parameter was appreciable, but approximately constant, independent of composition of the copolymer. The acid/base theory thus supplants the simple polar-nonpolar (gamma(p) and gamma(d)) hypothesis in regard to cell adhesion. A new 3-dimensional representation of hydrophilic/hydrophobic behavior is suggested to implement the acid/base description. [References: 24]