Salt-responsive polyzwitterionic materials for surface regeneration between switchable fouling and antifouling properties

Hong Chen; Jintao Yang; Shengwei Xiao; Rundong Hu; Sarang M Bhaway; Bryan D Vogt; Mingzhen Zhang; Qiang Chen; Jie Ma; Yung Chang; Lingyan Li; Jie Zheng

doi:10.1016/j.actbio.2016.03.009

Salt-responsive polyzwitterionic materials for surface regeneration between switchable fouling and antifouling properties

Acta Biomater. 2016 Aug:40:62-69. doi: 10.1016/j.actbio.2016.03.009. Epub 2016 Mar 7.

Authors

Hong Chen¹, Jintao Yang², Shengwei Xiao², Rundong Hu¹, Sarang M Bhaway³, Bryan D Vogt³, Mingzhen Zhang¹, Qiang Chen⁴, Jie Ma⁵, Yung Chang⁶, Lingyan Li¹, Jie Zheng⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325, USA.
² College of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China.
³ Department of Polymer Engineering, The University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325, USA.
⁴ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325, USA; School of Material Science and Engineering, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo 454003, China.
⁵ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325, USA; State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China.
⁶ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325, USA; R&D Center for Membrane Technology and Department of Chemical Engineering, Chung Yuan University, 200 Chung Pei Road, Chung Li, Taoyuan 32023, Taiwan.
⁷ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325, USA. Electronic address: zhengj@uakron.edu.

PMID: 26965396
DOI: 10.1016/j.actbio.2016.03.009

Abstract

Development of smart regenerative surface is a highly challenging but important task for many scientific and industrial applications. Specifically, very limited research efforts were made for surface regeneration between bio-adhesion and antifouling properties, because bioadhesion and antifouling are the two highly desirable but completely opposite properties of materials. Herein, we developed salt-responsive polymer brushes of poly(3-(1-(4-vinylbenzyl)-1H-imidazol-3-ium-3-yl) propane-1-sulfonate) (polyVBIPS), which can be switched reversibly and repeatedly between protein capture/release and surface wettability in a controllable manner. PolyVBIPS brush has demonstrated its switching ability to resist both protein adsorption from 100% blood plasma/serum and bacterial attachment in multiple cycles. PolyVBIPS brush also exhibits reversible surface wettability from ∼40° to 25° between in PBS and in 1M NaCl solutions in multiple cycles. Overall, the salt-responsive behaviors of polyVBIPS brushes can be interpreted by the "anti-polyelectrolyte effect", i.e. polyVBIPS brushes adopt a collapsed chain conformation at low ionic strengths to achieve surface adhesive, but an extended chain conformation at high ionic strength to realize antifouling properties. We expect that polyVBIPS will provide a simple, robust, and promising system for the fabrication of smart surfaces with biocompatible, reliable, and regenerative properties.

Statement of significance: Unlike many materials with "one-time switching" capability for surface regeneration, we developed a new regenerative surface of zwitterionic polymer brush, which exhibits a reversible salt-induced switching property between a biomolecule-adhesive state and a biomolecule repellent state in complex media for multiple cycles. PolyVBIPS is easily synthesized and can be straightforward coated on the surface, which provides a simple, robust, and promising system for the fabrication of smart surfaces with biocompatible, reliable, regenerative properties.

Keywords: Antifouling; Bacterial attachment; Protein adsorption; Regenerative surface; Stimuli-responsive; Zwitterionic materials.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Bacteria / metabolism*
Bacterial Adhesion*
Blood Proteins / chemistry*
Coated Materials, Biocompatible / chemistry*
Humans
Polymers / chemistry*
Wettability

Substances

Blood Proteins
Coated Materials, Biocompatible
Polymers