SURFACE MODIFICATION OF POLYPROPYLENE MICROPOROUS MEMBRANE BY TETHERING POLYPEPTIDES

Two kinds of polypeptides were tethered onto the surface of polypropylene microporous membrane (PPMM) through a ring opening polymerization of L-glutamate N-carboxyanhydride initiated by amino groups which were introduced by ammonia plasma and ?-aminopropyl triethanoxysilane treatments. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR/ATR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), together with water contact angle measurements were used to characterize the modified membranes. XPS analyses and FT-IR/ATR spectra demonstrated that polypeptides are actually grafted onto the membrane surface. The wettability of the membrane surface increases at first and then decreases with the increase in grafting degrees of polypeptide. Platelet adhesion and murine macrophage attachment experiments reveal an enhanced hemocompatibility for the polypeptide modified PPMMs. All these results give evidence that polypeptide grafting can simultaneously improve the hemocompatibility as well as reserve the hydrophobicity for the membrane, which will provide a potential approach to improve the performance of polypropylene hollow fiber microporous membrane used in artificial oxygenator.