Cell Adhesion on Synthetic Polymer Substrates

Abstract

This thesis investigates the role of synthetic plastic substrates in determining the adhesion and subsequent growth of anchorage dependent cells in vitro. This involved cell culture on specific substrate materials and the use of quantimet analysis, both light and scanning electron microscopy, X ray, photoelectron, spectrographic, surface chemical analysis and surface energetic measurement, in order to monitor and accurately characterise substrate properties. Attention has been paid to the relative properties of those materials which are claimed to be cell adhesive, and non adhesive respectively, and in addition to the claims that coatings of poly2hydroxyethyl methacrylate are capable of modulating the extent of cell adhesion and growth. A systematic series of commercial and purpose synthesised copolymer substrates are utilized to determine the relative role of specific chemical groups and physicochemical parameters in cell adhesion. This work coupled with the effect of gas plasma treatment on polystyrene substrates led to the proposal of a model system in which the cell adhesion characteristics of substrate materials can be predicted on the basis of fractional polarity measurements. This represents the first attempt to unify the factors affecting cell adhesion. The applications of this model system and the relevance of cell culture to the assessment of biomedical implant materials is discussed.