Homogeneous and micro-patterned plasma-deposited PEO-like coatings for biomedical surfaces

Mixtures of diethyl glycol dimethyl ether vapors and argon were used to feed RF (13.56 MHz) glow discharges and coat polystyrene substrates with poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)-like thin films. Different power input values have been used to obtain coatings with different cell-adhesive properties. Cell-culture experiments showed a tight correlation between the adhesion/morphology of cultured cell-lines and the chemical composition of the coatings; the ability of PEO-like coatings to discourage or promote cell adhesion could thus easily be related to the power delivered to the plasma. Combined deposition processes of different PEO-like coatings have been performed, with the method of physical masking, to produce surfaces micro-patterned with cell-adhesive tracks alternating with cell-repulsive domains. The micro-arrangement of different cell-adhesive domains enabled the patterning of cell cultures and induced the alignment of cells along predefined directions.