Laser surface treatment of a polymeric biomaterial : wettability characteristics and osteoblast cell response modulation

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Laser surface treatment of a polymer'c biomaterial

Biotechnology has the potential to improve people's quality of life and holds the key to many unmet clinical needs. In the UK alone the biotechnology market is worth £4.5 billion and estimates of future growth range from 10 to 15 %. This growth can only be driven by the increased use of inexpensive and easy to manufacture polymeric biomaterials.

Although polymer science is a rapidly developing area of research, it remains that one of the most intractable problems encountered in biotechnology is that the performance of polymeric biomaterials depend upon both the bulk and surface properties.

In this book the authors describe their work using lasers to modify the wettability characteristics of nylon 6,6 (as wetting is often the primary factor dictating the adhesion and bonding potential of materials) as a route to enhancing the surface in terms of in vitro osteoblast cell response. What is more, modifying wettability characteristics in this way is shown to be a highly attractive means of estimating the biofunctionality of a polymer. The book demonstrates and explains how the generation of a biomimetic surface on polymers using laser beams provides an in vitro platform on which to deposit and grow cells for either the development of implants or to reconstitute functional tissue. The correlative trends and generic characteristics which are identified in the book between the laser surface treatment, wettability characteristics and osteoblast cell response of the nylon 6,6 provide a means to estimate the osteoblast cell response in vivo. The book shows clearly that laser surface modification of polymeric materials has tremendous potential for application within the field of regenerative medicine.