Functional attachment of horse radish peroxidase to plasma treated surfaces

Controlling the interaction of surfaces with macromolecules, such as proteins and antibodies, is the key to producing biocompatible prosthetic devices, biosensors and diagnostic arrays. The development of technologies to control these interactions will result in the early detection of disease and have the potential to dramatically reduce costs associated with clinical treatment. For example, tethering functional. anti-bodies to a surface in a patterned array allows the selection of specific proteins from a. microlitre serum sample, immediately identifying diseases, well before the symptoms are manifested. Unfortunately, simple physical absorption of proteins onto most surfaces results in changes in their structure and loss of function. The use of ions from plasmas allows flexibility in surface modification by accessing, a variety of ion energies and activated chemical species. In this paper we describe plasma based techniques which are being developed to modify the chemistry and morphology of surfaces in order to optimise their interaction with biomolecules. Early results of plasma processes to activate surfaces for non specific attachment of proteins by hydrophilic/hydrophobic interactions are presented, with particular attention to the time stability of such treatments, which is of special interest.