Influence of Quaternized Polyurethane Membrane Surfaces on Human Endothelial Cell Attachment and Growth

Poly(ester urethane) (PU) membranes with cationic groups on the surface was prepared by grafting N,N-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate (DMA), followed by quaternization with iodomethane. Fourier transform infrared-attenuated total reflectance (FTIR-ATR) spectroscopy, X-ray photo-eletron spectroscopy (XPS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) evaluations verified the occurrence of the grafting polymerization and the quaternization. The endothelial cell attachment, viability, proliferation and morphology were investigated by in vitro cultures of the cationic membrane (PU-g-PDMAQ). The results show that the cytocompatibility of the cationic membrane with a specific amount of PDMAQ was improved. However, compared with its precursor, the PDMA grafted membrane (PU-g-PDMA), the cytocompatibility was not very different. These results suggest that the positive charges do not significantly improve the cytocompatibility to endothelial cells in comparison with the PU-g-PDMA neutral surface.