ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Hepatocyte/polymer interface with good biocompatibility is the key factor in bioreactor design andconstruction, however, bioreactor used in the clinical practice currently is not an ideal one.OBJECTIVE: To establish human hepatocyte compatible polypropylene interface and to lay a foundation for establishingbioartificial liver reactor with polypropylene hollow fiber.DESIGN, TIME AND SETTING: The comparative observation, cell compatibility experiment was performed betweenFebruary and October 2003 at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.MATERIALS: Polypropylene Photochemical graft polymerization modification technique was used to graft hydrophilicacrylamide groups on the surface of polypropylene membrane by chemical bonds to form modified polypropylenemembrane.METHODS: L02 human hepatoeytes were seeded on polypropylene membrane, modified polypropylene membrane andpolystyrene membrane, and polystyrene membrane was used as normal control.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Static water contact angle of polypropylene membrane before and after graftmodification; morphology, adherent rate and proliferation activity of L02 human hepatocytes on different material surfaces.RESULTS: Static water contact angle after polypropylene membrane graft modification was smaller than that before graftmodification (P < 0.05). The adherent rate of L02 human hepatocytes on the surface of modified polypropylene membranewas 0, and the proliferation activity of them, which grew as spherical aggregates, was markedly higher than that of cells onpolystyrene membrane and polypropylene membrane without graft modification.CONCLUSION: Grafting polyacrylamide on the surface of polypropylene can establish good interface of L02 humanhepatocytes/polypropylene and form hepatocyte spherical aggregates through simple static culture.