The article deals with the plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition of 0.3-1.4 μm thick a-C:H:SiOx films in a mixture of argon and polyphenylmethylsiloxane vapor onto the Ti-6Al-4V alloy substrate, which is often used as an implant material. The a-C:H:SiOx film structure is studied by the Fourier-transform infrared and Raman spectroscopies. The pull-off adhesion test assesses the adhesive strength of a-C:H:SiOx films, and the ball-on-disk method is employed to measure their wear rate and friction coefficient. According to these studies, a-C:H:SiOx films are highly adhesive to the Ti-6Al-4V substrate, have low (0.056) friction coefficient and wear rate (9.8 × 10-8 mm3 N-1 m-1 ) in phosphate-buffered saline at 40°C. In vitro studies show neither thrombogenicity nor cytotoxicity of the a-C:H:SiOx film for the human blood mononuclear cells (hBMNCs). The in vitro contact between the hBMNC culture and a-C:H:SiOx films 0.8-1.4 μm thick deposited onto Ti-6Al-4V substrates reduces a 24-hour secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines IL-8, IL-17, TNFα, RANTES, and MCP-1. This reduction is more significant when the film thickness is 1.4 μm and implies its potential anti-inflammatory effect and possible application in cardiovascular surgery. The dependence is suggested for the concentration of anti-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines and the a-C:H:SiOx film thickness, which correlates with the surface wettability and electrostatic potential. The article discusses the possible applications of the anti-inflammatory effect and low thrombogenicity of a-C:H:SiOx films in cardiovascular surgery.
Keywords: a-C:H:SiOx film; biocompatibility; human blood mononuclear cells; in vitro cytotoxicity; secretory activity; thrombogenicity.
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