Preparation of micron-sized composite polymer particles containing hydrophilic 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate and their biomedical applications

Micron-sized polystyrene or PS particles were first prepared by dispersion polymerization. Then a series of polystyrene/poly(styrene-2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) or PS/P(S-HEMA) composite polymer particles was prepared by seeded copolymerization using different amounts of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) at the constant core/shell ratio of 1/0.5. The produced PS seed and composite polymer particles were characterized by transmission electron microscopy. Adsorption behaviors of some biologically active macromolecules were studied under similar conditions. In each case the magnitude of adsorption on composite polymer particles decreased with the increase in HEMA content in the recipe, which means that the hydrophobic interaction between the surface of the particles and biomolecules decreased. The specific activities of trypsin aqueous solution and adsorbed trypsin on PS seed and composite polymer particles prepared with different HEMA contents were also measured and compared. The activity of adsorbed trypsin on composite polymer particles improved significantly with the incorporation of hydrophilic HEMA.