Interfacial energetics approach for analysis of endothelial cell and segmental polyurethane interactions

• Increased γp or γ− of substratum resulted in increased HUVEC interaction.
• Increased γ−/γ+ or γp of serum film resulted in increased HUVEC interaction.
• Above influences were interpreted as additive in determining HUVEC behavior.
• Phase-separation of PU promoted energy components that increased HUVEC interaction.
• Water contact angle or CST alone were not predictive of short-term HUVEC behavior.

Understanding the physicochemical interactions between endothelial cells and biomaterials is vital for regenerative medicine applications. Particularly, physical interactions between the substratum interface and spontaneously deposited biomacromolecules as well as between the induced biomolecular interface and the cell in terms of surface energetics are important factors to regulate cellular functions. In this study, we examined the physical interactions between endothelial cells and segmental polyurethanes (PUs) using l-tyrosine based PUs to examine the structure-property relations in terms of PU surface energies and endothelial cell organization. Since, contact angle analysis used to probe surface energetics provides incomplete interpretation and understanding of the physical interactions, we sought a combinatorial surface energetics approach utilizing water contact angle, Zisman’s critical surface tension (CST), Kaelble’s numerical method, and van Oss-Good-Chaudhury theory (vOGCT), and applied to both substrata and serum adsorbed matrix to correlate human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) behavior with surface energetics of l-tyrosine based PU surfaces. We determined that, while water contact angle of substratum or adsorbed matrix did not correlate well with HUVEC behavior, overall higher polarity according to the numerical method as well as Lewis base character of the substratum explained increased HUVEC interaction and monolayer formation as opposed to organization into networks. Cell interaction was also interpreted in terms of the combined effects of substratum and adsorbed matrix polarity and Lewis acid-base character to determine the effect of PU segments.

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