Abstract
Recent advancements in biomedicine have focused on designing novel and stable interfaces that can drive a specific cellular response toward the requirements of medical devices or implants. Among these, in recent years, electroactive polymers (i.e., polyvinylidene fluoride or PVDF) have caught the attention within the biomedical applications sector, due to their insolubility, stability in biological media, in vitro and in vivo non-toxicity, or even piezoelectric properties. However, the main disadvantage of PVDF-based bio-interfaces is related to the absence of the functional groups on the fluoropolymer and their hydrophobic character leading to a deficiency of cell adhesion and proliferation. This work was aimed at obtaining hydrophilic functional PVDF polymer coatings by using, for the first time, the one-step, matrix-assisted pulsed evaporation (MAPLE) method, testing the need of a post-deposition thermal treatment and analyzing their preliminary capacity to support MC3T3-E1 pre-osteoblast cell survival. As osteoblast cells are known to prefer rough surfaces, MAPLE deposition parameters were studied for obtaining coatings with roughness of tens to hundreds of nm, while maintaining the chemical properties similar to those of the pristine material. The in vitro studies indicated that all surfaces supported the survival of viable osteoblasts with active metabolisms, similar to the “control” sample, with no major differences regarding the thermally treated materials; this eliminates the need to use a secondary step for obtaining hydrophilic PVDF coatings. The physical-chemical characteristics of the thin films, along with the in vitro analyses, suggest that MAPLE is an adequate technique for fabricating PVDF thin films for further bio-applications.
Highlights
Novel, advanced, synthetic polymeric biomaterials have attracted attention in recent decades due to their processability, morphological characteristics, surface chemistry, and wide range of potential applications in the sector of electronic devices and for biomedical science [1,2,3]
Thin films of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) for bio-applications were fabricated by means of the matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation (MAPLE) technique, in order to support the survival of viable osteoblasts with active metabolism, and be able to reverse the hydrophobic character into a hydrophilic one at the nanoscale
The obtained materials were subjected to thermal treatment (TT) at 70 ◦ C for 5 h, in order to totally eliminate the solvent used during the matrix-assisted pulsed evaporation (MAPLE) process that may adhere to the layers, and to enhance the surface morphology for a potentially better accommodation of cells
Summary
Novel, advanced, synthetic polymeric biomaterials have attracted attention in recent decades due to their processability, morphological characteristics, surface chemistry, and wide range of potential applications in the sector of electronic devices and for biomedical science (i.e., sensors, biosensors, membranes, etc.) [1,2,3] Among these materials, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) is a semi-crystalline fluoropolymer presenting a number of characteristics that make it a versatile biomaterial: insolubility, low processing temperature, chemical resistance, stability in biological media, in vitro and in vivo nontoxicity [4,5,6,7], piezoelectricity, and pyroelectricity [8,9]. It is essential that the mechanical, physical, and chemical characteristics, as well as the hydrophilic or hydrophobic nature of the substrate, are well-known, since they will influence the means of interaction between cells and surfaces [1,4,5,6,7].
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