Cell adhesion and proliferation on polyethylene grafted with Au nanoparticles

Plasma treatment and subsequent Au nano-particles grafting of polyethylene (PE) lead to changes in surface morphology, roughness and wettability, significantly increasing the attractiveness of the material for cells. The PE samples were exposed to argon plasma. Plasma modified PE was chemically grafted by immersion to biphenyldithiol and consequently into solution of Au nano-particles. Changes in chemical structure of the modified PE were studied using X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and electrokinetic analysis (ζ-potential). The surface wettability of the modified PE samples was examined by measurement of the contact angle by standard goniometry. The surface morphology of the plasma modified PE and that grafted with Au nano-particles was studied by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). The modified PE samples were seeded with rat vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) and their adhesion and proliferation were studied. Chemically bounded biphenyldithiol increases the number of the incorporated gold nano-particles and changes sample surface properties. The presence of the biphenyldithiol and the gold nano-particles on the PE surface influences dramatically adhesion and proliferation of VSMCs.