Blood compatibility of chitosan immobilized on poly(ethylene terephthalate) surface modified by plasma and ultraviolet grafting

We report a study involving chitosan chains immobilized on poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET) films by plasma and ultraviolet (UV) grafting modification. The surface structure of the modified PET is determined by means of attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infraed spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results show that the chains of chitosan are successfully grafted on the surface of PET. Platelet adhesion evaluation in vitro is conducted to examine the blood compatibility in vitro. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and optical microscopy reveal that the amounts of adhered, aggregated and morphologically changed platelets are reduced on the chitosan-immobilized PET films. The number of platelet adhered on the modified film is reduced by almost 48% compared to the amount of platelets on the untreated film. Our result thus shows that chitosan immobilized on the PET surface improves blood compatibility.