Immobilization of natural macromolecules on poly-L-lactic acid membrane surface in order to improve its cytocompatibility.

With the use of a grafting-coating method, three kinds of natural macromolecules, that is, gelatin, collagen, or chitosan, were immobilized on poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA) membrane surfaces with the goal of improving of cellular interactions. Attenuated total reflectance infrared spectroscopy (ATR-IR), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and surface morphology analysis using scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) confirmed that the natural macromolecule layers adhered tightly to the hydrophobic PLLA membrane surfaces. Chondrocyte culture showed that the modified PLLA membranes had higher cell attachment, higher cell proliferation rate, and higher cell activity than the control PLLA membrane. Moreover, the chondrocytes were more spread out on the modified PLLA membranes than on the control PLLA membranes. Copyright 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.