Table 1.
Process Gases Used, Resulting Chemistries Found, and Major Study Impacts on Cells
| Gas combination | Surface chemistry (XPS determined) | Cellular impact | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Air | Carbon: 86.2% | Facilitated attachment under rotary conditions of L929 mouse fibroblasts | 40 |
| Oxygen: 12.0% | |||
| Nitrogen 1.8% | |||
| Ammonia (low pressure) | Carbon: 65% | Increased viability of human mesenchymal stem cells (122.7% increase in metabolic activity), human dermal microvascular endothelial cells (150.4% increase in metabolic activity) as compared with TCPS | 41 |
| Oxygen: 5% | |||
| Nitrogen: 9.4% | |||
| Acrylic acid (low pressure) | Carbon: 39.6% | Similar metabolic activity compared with TCPS | 41 |
| Oxygen: 31.8% | |||
| Carboxyl: 17.0% | |||
| Carbon dioxide (low pressure) | Carbon: 70% | Reduced enzymatic activity vs. TCPS (86.9%) | 41 |
| Oxygen: 12.3% | |||
| Argon (low pressure) | Not specified | Mouse fibroblasts found to have peak attachment density with short (<10 s) treatment times, and no difference between 10 and 30 s | 28 |
| Acetone, methane, methanol, formic acid, and oxygen | Varied with formulation | Hydroxyl groups do not correlate with cell growth of bovine aortic endothelial cells (R2 = 7.6%), carbonyl groups correlate better (R2 = 57%) | 42 |
| Human umbilical vein endothelial cells found to adhere and grow on PS only with >17.7% oxygen content, matching TCPS | |||
| Nitrogen or ammonia (10%), argon or helium (balance) | Carbon: 91% Oxygen or Nitrogen: 9% Varied with formulation | Find greatest cell attachment efficiency BCP-K1 cells with both ammonia and nitrogen dopant gases using helium plasmas. Greatest proliferation found for nitrogen/helium and ammonia/argon plasma-treated surfaces | 43 |
| Ultraviolet ozone | Oxygen: 36% | Chinese hamster ovary cells. See >80% of seeded cells attach under 3 hr incubation under 3 min of surface treatment, better than TCPS | 44 |
| Find washing with water reduced the surface oxygen content. | |||
| Ammonia plasma | Varied with sample | High cell affinity of human fibroblasts onto PS surfaces. Good amination of the surfaces with 15–20% of the total nitrogen content detected on the surfaces, with total amines presented increasing with increasing plasma intensity. | 45 |
Significant work has been performed to understand the link between surface chemistry and cellular response. To date, it is difficult to find a unifying theory for all cell types, however, providing surface chemistry with a high degree of biomimicry (i.e., surface oxygen and nitrogen incorporated as carbonyl, carboxyl, amine, etc.) appear to improve cellular response during in vitro culture.
PS, polystyrene; TCPS, tissue culture polystyrene; XPS, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.