Kroner E, Kaiser JS, Fischer SC, Arzt E, et al.
Journal of applied biomaterials & functional materials. Date of publication 2012 Jan 1;volume 10(3):287-92.
1. J Appl Biomater Funct Mater. 2012;10(3):287-92. doi: 10.5301/JABFM.2012.10365.
Bioinspired polymeric surface patterns for medical applications.
Kroner E(1), Kaiser JS, Fischer SC, Arzt E.
Author information:
(1)INM-Leibniz Institute for New Materials, Functional Surfaces Group,
Saarbrücken, Germany. elmar.kroner@inm-gmbh.de
PURPOSE: A powerful principle in nature is the presence of surface patterns to
improve specific characteristics or to enable completely new functions. Here, we
present two case studies where bioinspired surface patterns based on the adhesive
system of geckos may be applied for biomedical applications: residue-free
adhesion to skin and gecko-inspired suture threads for knot-free wound closure.
METHODS: Gecko-inspired skin adhesives were fabricated by soft lithography of
polydimethylsiloxane with successive inking and dipping steps. Their adhesion was
measured using a home built adhesion tester designed for patterned surfaces.
Preliminary lap shear tests on the back of a human hand were also performed.
Commercial suture threads from different materials were patterned in the group of
A. del Campo at the Max-Planck-Institute for Polymer Research (Mainz, Germany)
using oxygen plasma. The treated threads were pulled through artificial skin in
both directions measuring the peak force and the pull through force.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Unpatterned reference samples of the skin adhesive did
not stick to human skin, while the patterned samples all showed notable adhesion
up to 1.2 Newton for a sample size of approximately 3 cm². First results with the
patterned suture threads indicated that the surface patterning of the thread has
only a minor effect on the pull-through forces. To achieve knot-free sewing the
surface geometry of the suture threads needs to be optimized and more realistic
testing procedures, e.g. testing on human skin, are necessary.
DOI: 10.5301/JABFM.2012.10365
PMID: 23242878 [Indexed for MEDLINE]
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