Adsorption of proteins to thin-films of PDMS and its effect on the adhesion of human endothelial cells

This paper describes a simple and inexpensive procedure to produce thin-films of poly(dimethylsiloxane). Such films were characterized by a variety of techniques (ellipsometry, nuclear magnetic resonance, atomic force microscopy, and goniometry) and used to investigate the adsorption kinetics of three model proteins (fibrinogen, collagen type-I, and bovine serum albumin) under different conditions. The information collected from the protein adsorption studies was then used to investigate the adhesion of human dermal microvascular endothelial cells. The results of these studies suggest that these films can be used to model the surface properties of microdevices fabricated with commercial PDMS. Moreover, the paper provides guidelines to efficiently attach cells in BioMEMS devices.