Vascularization Of Plasma Treated Medpor Implant

Background:High-density polyethylene (Medpor) is widely used as orbital implant material nowadays, and always people are concerned about the vascularization of the implants. Medpor shows good mechanical strength, chemical stability and non toxicity, and has been widely used in clinical as orbital implant material. However, Medpor shows hydrophobic property, which hinders the adhesion of the endothelial cells or the vascularization. Therefore, the surface modification of the Medpor to accelerate its vascularization and improve its biocompatibility, is a starting point to reduce the postoperative complication, such as shift, discharge, and infection.Aims:Study the feasibility of low-temperature plasma treatment to accelerate the vascularization of Medpor, in order to promote the development of the orbital implant material.Methods:The low-temperature plasma treatment is carried out on the Medpor material for surface modification. The result is tested by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), water contact angle, FDA stain, Confocal Laser Scanning Microscope (CLSM), MTT test, and animal experiment. Results:The SEM result shows that the surface topography of Medpor scaffold did not change significantly after modification by low temperature plasma; stent pore diameter of the material is150-500μm, and the connectivity is good. The water contact angle of Medpor decrease from118.13±1.04°to0°. The cell morphology observation under fluorescence microscope and CLSM show that the amount of the Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cell (HUVEC) adhere to the modified scaffold is larger than the untreated scaffold, and Endothelial cells along the modified scaffold pore is in a paving-like growth. MTT assay displayed that the modified scaffold had better cytocompatibility for endothelial cells comparing to the untreated scaffold, and the difference is significant (***p<0.001). The animal experiment show that the vascularization of the modified scaffold is faster than the untreated scaffold.Conclusions:Medpor after low temperature plasma treatment shows hydrophilic properties, promotes the adhesion and proliferation of the endothelial cell, and can accelerate the vascularization after implantation.