Surface modification of polymers by plasma treatments for the enhancement of biocompatibility and controlled drug release

• Studies on plasma treatments of polymers for biomedical applications are reviewed.
• Achievements in biocompatibility by plasma treatments are discussed.
• Plasma-modified polymeric surfaces were studied for structural characterization.
• Biocompatibility and mechanical property of DLC-related coatings were summarized.
• Plasma technique is a promising modification tool for DDS and tissue engineering.

Polymers have been widely used for biomedical purposes such as medical devices, tissue engineering scaffolds, and drug carriers for drug delivery system (DDS). Using polymers for such medical devices should be entirely sensible, as polymers are generally very soft, highly cost-effective, and relatively biocompatible. In order to encourage further development in the biocompatibility of the polymers for the enhanced use of the materials, the functionalization of the polymer surfaces has been deliberately introduced. Plasma modification is one of the most efficient ways for the surface treatment of polymers, since plasma treatment could selectively modify the chemical and the physical properties of the surface of the polymers by not affecting the original bulk characteristics of the polymers. Also, plasma surface modification offers shorter treatment time as compared with other surface modification methods. When plasma was applied to the polymer surface, functional groups, graft polymerization, coatings, and molecular crosslinking formation would be introduced with or without the change in the surface roughness of the polymer. The highly functionalized polymers by the plasma modifications would be effectively used for the materials in tissue engineering or drug delivery systems. In this paper, the fabrication and the characterization of polymers by several types of plasma treatments are reviewed, followed by the introduction of their applications to the materials in drug delivery systems and tissue engineering.