Affiliations: Nanosystem Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba, Japan | Department of Physics and Materials Science, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China | Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Hideo Tsurushima, Department of Neurosurgery, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Science, University of Tsukuba, Tennoudai 1-1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8575, Japan. Tel.: +81 29 853 3220; Fax: +81 853 3214; E-mail: hideo-tsurushima@md.tsukuba.ac.jp.
Abstract: Plasma technology is widely employed to tailor the surface chemistry of polymeric biomaterials. In this work, nitrogen-containing functional groups were generated on a polymer surface by N2 plasma immersion ion implantation (PIII). We evaluated the abilities of the resulting surface to inhibit bacterial growth and to enhance osteoblast differentiation from the perspective of bone tissue engineering. Our results demonstrate that the N2 PIII-treated polymer surface exhibits antibacterial properties against Escherichia coli. Moreover, the N2 PIII-treated polymer surface has the ability to enhance differentiation of osteoblasts. N2 PIII-treated polymer surface may therefore be useful in bone tissue engineering.
Keywords: Bone tissue engineering, differentiation, disinfection, osteoblasts, plasma, polymer
