Controlled thickness for efficient solid-phase presentation of growth factors
- Autores: Andrés Alba Pérez
- Directores de la Tesis: Manuel Salmerón-Sánchez (dir. tes.)
- Lectura: En la Universitat Jaume I ( España ) en 2020
- Idioma: español
- Tribunal Calificador de la Tesis: José Luis Gómez Ribelles (presid.), Carlos Mas Moruno (secret.), Gloria Gallego Ferrer (voc.)
- Programa de doctorado: Programa de Doctorado en Tecnologías Industriales y Materiales por la Universidad Jaume I de Castellón
- Materias:
- Enlaces
- Tesis en acceso abierto en: TDX
- Resumen
We have developed a plasma polymerization equipment and process that uses a low power radio frequency glow discharge to coat surfaces with plasma polymerized Poly(ethyl acrylate) (PEA). Our set-up has demonstrated a fine control of the chemical integrity and the thickness of the coating, even at sub-micron scales.
We have optimised the operation parameters of this equipment and have characterised the materials produced, in particular how fibronectin behaves when coated onto them. We have systematically evaluated process conditions and their impact on the plasma polymerised PEA coatings, characterising the effect of plasma power and deposition time on thickness, wettability and chemical composition of the coatings. We also have demonstrated that substrate functional roughness can be maintained after deposition of the polymer coatings. Importantly, we show that coatings deposited at different conditions all maintain a similar or better bioactivity than spin coated PEA references. We show that fibronectin assembles into compact nanonetworks on the PEA plasma polymerised coatings, with high availability of integrin and growth factor binding regions that sequester bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2). Overall, we show that this is a potent and versatile technology that can help facilitate the use of GFs in clinical applications.
Additionally, we worked on a complementary coating technology to coat scaffolds and other structures with PEA. We built in our lab two custom-made installations to spray PEA from solutions in toluene on surfaces and scaffolds. Our first pilot installation was for a simple high-volume airgun. A second installation that allowed more precise control of the coating was for a low volume airbrush. We optimised protocols and requirements to coat surfaces and scaffolds for the two spraying installations, we developed and characterised the sprayed coatings (thickness, partial/full coating distribution, degradation in water), checked the conformation of fibronectin on sprayed surfaces with AFM, and verified the efficiency in coating 3D structures with pores and the effect on degradation rate of a biodegradable substrate (PCL).
