Platelet Adhesion on the Silk Fibroin Material Surface

Abstract

Silk fibroin (SF) has good biocompatibility and has been used to construct small caliber artificial blood vessels. As a vascular graft, the antithrombogenicity is the first important performance. The aim of this study was to evaluate the anticoagulant property of polyethylene glycol diglycidyl ether (PEG-DE) crosslinked and ethanol treated SF materials by investigating the platelet adhesion. Dacron and PTFE were parallel studied as the controls. Results showed that: the platelet adhesion ratios on the ethanol treated SF films were significantly lower than that on the Dacron and PTFE; the platelet adhesion ratios on the PEG-DE crosslinked SF films were higher than that on the ethanol treated SF films and slightly increased with increasing the proportion of the PEG-DE. But the platelet adhesion ratios on all of the PEG-DE crosslinked SF films were significantly lower than that on the controls.