Surface properties of polyurethane composites for biomedical applications

The development of tissue engineering in the field of orthopedic surgery is now booming. Biocompatibility is one of the most important characteristics of a biomedical polymer and composites material whose surface is required to interact with a biological system. Since proteins are viewed as the primary and the most important substrate in mediating polymer-organism interactions, the status of the proteins on a material surface is believed to determine the ultimate biocompatibility of a given biomaterial. In order to achieve specific responses between biomaterial surfaces and the adjacent cells, the principles for designing biocompatible materials are brought forth decorating polymer surfaces with bioceramic particles (aragonite and calcite) to induce specific protein adsorption and cell responses. In this work, we describe the adhesion properties of polyurethane/calcium carbonate composites. An understanding of the phenomena of cell adhesion and, in particular, understanding of the proteins involved in osteoblast adhesion on contact with the materials is of crucial importance, the adhesion between fibronectin (FN) and composites PUR/CaCO3 surfaces were examined using atomic force microscopy (AFM). Moreover, it is found that is correlation between the detachment force and surface free energy (SFE). At the end, in order to estimate the cellular biocompatibility, the human bone derived cells (HBDC) were cultured on PUR/CaCO3 composites.

► Synthesis of polyurethanes and polyurethane/calcium carbonate composite; ► Composites showed similar chemical composition with distinct CaCO3 particle shape. ► The free surface energy of calcite was larger than for aragonite composite. ► The adhesion force to fibronectin correlated linearly with free surface energy. ► The cell growth showed calcite fillers to be potential improvements for implants.