Interaction of phosphorylcholine with fibronectin coatings: Surface characterization and biological performances

Coating medical devices with several bioactive molecules is an interesting approach to achieve specific biological targets upon the interaction of the biomaterial with the living environment. In this work, a fluorocarbon polymer (CF_x) was first deposited by plasma treatment on stainless steel (SS) substrate and thereafter, coatings containing fibronectin (FN) and phosphorylcholine (PRC) were created for cardiovascular applications. These two biomolecules were chosen to promote endothelialization and to avoid thrombus formation, respectively. Adsorption and grafting techniques were applied – and combined – to accomplish 4 different coatings containing both molecules. However, big challenge was found to characterize a small molecule (PRC: 184 g/mol) interacting with a protein (FN: 450 kD). For the first time XPS, dynamic water contact angle, immunostaining and ToF-SIMS (imaging and depth profiling) analyses were combined to accomplish the characterization of such a coating. The most encouraging biological performances were obtained for samples where FN was grafted to the CF_x film followed by the adsorption of PRC: proliferation of endothelial cells and hemocompatibility properties were observed. Promising coatings for cardiovascular applications were developed. The relevance of characterizing the coatings with high sensitive techniques and the further correlation with their biological performances were evidenced.