Surface immobilization of bioactive molecules on polyurethane for promotion of cytocompatibility to human endothelial cells

Cytocompatible polymers are of increasing importance for tissue engineering scaffolds and implanted devices. Polyurethane (PU) membranes were modified by grafting polymerization of methacrylic acid (MAA) initiated by UV light and further covalent immobilization of gelatin or arginine-glycine-aspartic (RGD) peptide using 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide hydrochloride as a condensing agent. The immobilization of gelatin or RGD peptide was confirmed by FTIR attenuated total reflection (ATR) spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results for endothelial cells cultured in vitro proved that the PU membrane modified with gelatin or rGD peptide had better cytocompatibility than the control PU or the PMAA grafted PU membrane. [GRAPHICS] ATR-FTIR spectra of PU-graft-PMAA (a), PU-graft-PMAA-graft-RGD (b), and their subtraction result (c). The PMAA grafting degree is 21.56 x 10(-2) mg/cm(2).