The ability for the body to successfully undergo wound healing after the implantation of a medical device is often a difficult process as the site is susceptible to infection from bacteria. Nitric oxide (NO) is a biologically relevant small molecule that has the ability to aid in this process due to its antibacterial capabilities and cellular proliferation abilities. Due to NOs properties, a number of NO-releasing materials have been developed based on polymer systems to prevent biofouling and enhance wound healing. Tygon is commonly used in containers and tubing for catheters and haemodialysis, therefore it is an appropriate polymer system in which to incorporate NO. One of the challenges with using this polymer, however, is its hydrophobic characteristics, which can decrease the overall compatibility with cells. Surface modifications of the materials are a common approach to tune the properties for biocompatibility once in biological systems. Specifically, the use of plasma treatments with water enables the materials to maintain the bulk properties, while making the surface more hydrophilic. In this work, nitrosated glutathione (GSNO) was used as the NO donor and blended into a tygon polymer system to create thin films. These films underwent water plasma-treatment in order to change the hydrophilicity of the materials. A number of characterization techniques were performed to ensure that mechanical properties of the material reamined the same after plasma-treatment. Optical profilometry was used to ensure that the surface roughness of the films did not change after plasma-treatment. The NO release of the films was analyzed using a nitric oxide analyzer (NOA) to show that the steady-state NO remained constant after plasma-treatment. Finally, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to identify changes in functional groups on the surface of the films after plasma-treatment. In addition, bacterial studies using <i>E. coli</i> were performed to demonstrate the antibacterial properties of these NO-releasing films. The tunability with surface modification of these NO-releasing films shows great promise for the use in biomedical applications in order to aid in wound healing and prevent biofouling.

Plasma surface modifications of nitric oxide releasing polymer films for increased hydrophilicity

249th National Meeting (2015)

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