Reduced platelet adhesion on the surface of polyurethane bearing structure of sulfobetaine

Poly(etherurethane)s are widely used as blood-contacting biomaterials due to their good biocompatibility and mechanical properties. Nevertheless, their blood compatibility is still not adequate for the more demanding applications. Surface modification is an effective way to improve the blood compatibility and retain the bulk properties of biomaterials. The purpose of present study was to design and synthesize a novel nonthrombogenic biomaterial by modifying the surface of poly(etherurethane) with zwitterionic monomer. Films of polyurethane were grafted with sulfobetaine by a three-step procedure. In the first step, the film surfaces were treated with hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) in toluene at 50 degrees C in the presence of di-n-butyl tin dilaurate (DBTDL) as a catalyst. The extent of the reaction was measured by ATR-IR spectra; a maximum number of free NCO group was obtained after a reaction time of 90 min. In the second step, the hydroxyl group of 4-dimethylamino-1-butanol (DMAB) was allowed to react in toluene with isocyanate groups bound on the surface. In the third step, sulfobetaine was formed on the surface through the ring-opening reaction between tertiary amine of DMAB and 1,3- propane-sultone (PS). It was characterized by ATR-IR, XPS. The data showed that the grafted surfaces were composed of sulfobetaine. The results of the contact angle measurements showed that they were strongly hydrophilic. The state of platelet adhesion and shape variation for the attached platelets was described. The modified surface shows excellent blood compatibility feature by the low platelet adhesion.