Biocompatibility of oxygen-plasma-treated polystyrene substrates

The biocompatibility of polystyrene (PS) samples has been improved by treatment with weakly ionized highly non-equilibrium oxygen plasma. Samples were exposed to plasma for 30 s for which they have received a dose of ions of 4.5 × 1017 m−2 and a neutral oxygen atom dose of 3 × 10−23 m−2. Both untreated and plasma-treated samples were tested for biocompatibility according to the same procedure. Proliferation of human mammary epithelial cells (HMECs) on samples revealed a dramatically improved biocompatibility of polystyrene treated by oxygen plasma. The HMECs were deposited on all samples and incubated for 1, 2 and 6 days. MTT test revealed about two times higher activity of cell enzymes after 48 h incubation. The activity for plasma-treated samples remained much higher than for untreated samples even after 6 days of incubation when the samples were already covered with a dense film of HMECs