Physicochemical and biological evaluation of plasma-induced graft polymerization of acrylamide onto polydimethylsiloxane

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) rubbers exhibit good mechanical properties for biomedical and industrial applications, but their inherently high hydrophobicity limits biomedical applications of this material despite its favorable mechanical properties. In this work, surface modification of PDMS by radio-frequency glow discharge and subsequently graft polymerization of acrylamide was studied. PAAm-grafted, oxygen plasma-treated, and control (untreated) PDMS rubbers were characterized using attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared, scanning electron microscopy, dynamic mechanical thermal analyses, zeta potential, and contact angle techniques. Fibroblast (L929) cell attachment and growth onto these surfaces were examined by optical microscopy. The data from in vitro assays showed that cell attachment onto control surface was very negligible while significant cell attachment and growth was observed onto oxygen plasma-treated and PAAm-grafted PDMS surfaces. The method developed in this work offers a convenient way of surface modifications of biomaterials to improve attachment of cells onto substrates. (c) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.