REDUCING NONSELECTIVE PROTEIN ADSORPTION AND CELL ADHESION ON POLYACRYLONITRILE FILMS BY COPOLYMERIZATION OF ACRYLONITRILE WITH α-ALLYL GLUCOSIDE

In this work, the surface properties of novel sugar-containing polymers, α-allyl glucoside (AG)/acrylonitrile (AN)copolymers, were studied by contact angle, protein adsorption and cell adhesion measurements. It was found that the contactangle of the copolymer films decreased from 68° to 30° with the increase of AG content in the copolymer. The adsorptionamount of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and the adhesive macrophage onto the film surface also decreased significantly withincreasing α-allyl glucoside content from 0 to 42 wt% in the copolymer. These preliminary results reveal that both thehydrophilicity and the biocompatibility of polyacrylonitrile-based membranes could be improved by copolymerizing acrylonitrile with vinyl carbohydrates.