Adhesion and Spreading of Human Fibroblasts on Superhydrophobic Fep-Teflon

Adhesion and spreading of human fibroblasts was studied on hydrophobized and hydrophilized FEPTeflon, and compared with adhesion and spreading on untreated FEP-Teflon and Tissue culture polystyrene (TCPS). Superhydrophobic FEP-Teflon was prepared by ion etching followed by oxygen glow-discharge. Hydrophilic PEP-Teflon was prepared by ion etching only. Water contact angles of the modified surfaces were 140- 1500 and 5-10° for the hydrophobic and the hydrophilic variant, respectively. (Untreated FEP-Teflon: 109°). Spreading of human skin fibroblasts significantly increased on hydrophilic FEP-Teflon (257 μm2 per cell), whereas a significant decrease was observed on superhydrophobic FEP-Teflon (158 μm2 per cell), as compared to untreated FEP-Teflon (209 μm2 per cell). Cell spreading on TCPS was significantly higher as compared to FEP-Teflon, but it was not significantly different from spreading on hydrophilic FEP-Teflon. The number of adhering cells on TCPS however was significantly higher than on the hydrophilic FEP-Teflon, illustrating that adhesion and spreading are two different phenomena