Cell adhesion on gaseous plasma modified poly-(L-lactide) surface under shear stress field

A series of gases were used for plasma treatment of poly-(L-lactide) (PLLA) under various conditions such as atmosphere, electric power, pressure and time. The NH₃ was preferably selected for modifying the surface of PLLA because it can obtain appropriate hydrophilicity and surface energy with high polar component compared to other gases. Subsequently, cells were seeded onto NH₃ modified surface and exposed to 29.5N/m² of shear stress field by means of a parallel plate flow chamber in order to get good insight into the influence of N-containing incorporation on cell retention, cell morphology, and cell shape factor. The results showed that cell retention on the modified PLLA was much higher than that on the unmodified one. The NH₃ plasma modified PLLA with high cell affinity and resistance to shear stress was gained. Surface hydrophilicity, surface energy with high polar component and N-containing groups may play an important role in enhancing cell resistance to shear stress. It revealed that the parallel plate flow chamber is an effective device for evaluating the effects of surface modification on the cell affinity of a material.