Blood compatible aspects of poly(2-methoxyethylacrylate) (PMEA)—relationship between protein adsorption and platelet adhesion on PMEA surface

Platelet adhesion and spreading is suppressed when a poly(2-methoxyethylacrylate) (PMEA) surface is used, compared with other polymer surfaces. To clarify the reason for this suppression, the relationship among the amount of the plasma protein adsorbed onto PMEA, its secondary structure and platelet adhesion was investigated. Poly(2-hydroxyethylmethacrylate) (PHEMA) and polyacrylate analogous were used as references. The amount of protein adsorbed onto PMEA was very low and similar to that absorbed onto PHEMA. Circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy was applied to examine changes in the secondary structure of the proteins after adsorption onto the polymer surface. The conformation of the proteins adsorbed onto PHEMA changed considerably, but that of proteins adsorbed onto PMEA differed only a little from the native one. These results suggest that low platelet adhesion and spreading are closely related to the low degree of the denaturation of the protein adsorbed onto PMEA. PMEA could be developed as a promising material to produce a useful blood-contacting surface for medical devices.