Virginia Tech researchers are using the electrostatic self-assembly (ESA) process to incorporate various ceramic biomaterials, water-soluble polymers, and heparin into ultra thin films for unique biocompatible materials with well-organized interfaces.
The work will be presented at the 223nd national meeting of the American Chemical Society, April 7-11 in Orlando.
Biocompatible thin films have been successfully fabricated on various biomedical substrates, including the inner surface of polymeric medical tubing, says . William B. Spillman Jr., director of the Optical Sciences and Engineering Research Center at Virginia Tech. "These films will have broad application including anti-restenosis coatings on medical devices such as stents and hemocompatible coatings for dialysis tubing."
Restenosis is the tissue buildup that sometimes reoccurs within a blood vessel after the trauma caused when an initial tissue blockage has been removed, as in balloon angioplasty. Stents, which are devices that are placed in the blood vessel to keep it from collapsing create additional trauma. "In many situations where these devices are used, the body's response is not helpful," says Spillman. "If the stents are coated with films incorporating the appropriate biochemicals, the restenosis can be inhibited. The initial results are promising, but we have more research to do to."
"Prior to our biocompatible coatings work, our laboratory has been able to create via ESA nonlinear optical thin films incorporating polymer dyes, ceramic nanoparticle thin films, conductive thin film incorporating Au colloids, Fullerene films, and light emitting diodes," reports You-Xiong Wang, senior research scientist with the Fiber and Electro-Optics Research Center (FEORC). He writes that other possible applications are tissue engineering, such as bone implants, and scaffolds to restore damaged organ structure.
The research will be reported in the paper, "Biocompatible Thin Films by the Electrostatic Self-assembly Process" (Coll 393), by Wang, Spillman, and Richard O. Claus, director of FEORC, at 9 a.m. Wednesday, April 10, in Convention Center room 103A, level one.
The research in on-going and supported by the Carilion Biomedical Institute.
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