Developed a New Method to Evaluate Wettability of Coating Materials for Bio-contact Medical Device
LastUpDate： May 13, 2020
A joint research group, including Associate Professor Chie Kojima and Professor Akikazu Matsumoto at the Graduate School of Engineering of Osaka Prefecture University, senior researcher Nobuyuki Tanaka and team leader Yo Tanaka at the Laboratory for Integrated Biodevice of RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, Professor Kohei Shiraishi at the Faculty of Engineering of Kindai University, and section manager Yoshihide Haruzono at Kitagawa Corporation, developed a technique that can easily evaluate the wettability of polymer coatings for medical materials.
The results of this research are expected to contribute to evaluation the antifouling effect of coating materials that are used in bio-contact medical devices and their development.
When a substance such as protein has attached to the surface of a bio-contact medical device, cells are adhered and/or clots are formed at the device surface. The compatibility between water molecules and the polymer, that is the hydration, is important for development of polymer coating materials to prevent the thrombus formation. However, because it is difficult to evaluate hydration in a simple manner, a simplified method for evaluating wettability of polymer coating materials have been desired for a detailed understanding of hydration behaviors.
The joint research group developed a technique that allows the evaluation of wettability under both dry and wet conditions and investigated the relationship between the hydration behavior and the functionality of two polymer coating materials. The results indicated that hydration behavior occurs in the two phases, which are caused by the transition from a dry to a wet condition and by the polymer swelling.
This research was published in the accepted version (dated April 19) of the scientific journal, Langmuir, and it will also be published in issue soon.
Paper
Title
Characterization of the Hydration Process of Phospholipid-Mimetic Polymers Using Air-Injection-Mediated Liquid Exclusion Methods
Contact:
Department of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka Prefecture University
Prof. Akikazu Matsumoto
Dr. Chie Kojima