Promoting progress in plasma surface biofunctionalization

According to the “race for the surface” theory, foreign objects in a human body, such as bone implants or stents, may trigger a race between tissue cells and bacteria. If the tissue cells win, the surface of the implant is covered by local cells; if the bacteria win, biofilms form on the surface and lead to infection. This can occur even with materials traditionally considered bioinert or biocompatible.

This dynamic has served as the impetus for biofunctionalization in biomedical applications. This involves manipulating tissue interactions through physical or chemical surface modifications. But biofunctionalization has been realized primarily with wet chemical approaches, which have several shortcomings.

Zhianmanesh et al. provided an overview of current wet chemical approaches for developing biofunctionalized surfaces and biomimetic devices and suggested the need for a paradigm shift with new plasma-based technologies emerging as dry, reagent-free, and single-step alternatives for surface biofunctionalization.

“Dry and environmentally friendly plasma-based technologies offer significant advantages over other conventional wet chemistry methods, as they are easy to scale up and produce almost zero waste,” said author Behnam Akhavan.

In reviewing the developmental progress of biomimetic surfaces using plasma-based approaches, the authors examined the underpinning surface-protein interactions to shed light on the mechanisms regulating the various biofunctionalization approaches.

“We evaluated plasma processes used for biomolecule immobilization with respect to their complexity, reproducibility, scalability, and the properties of the functionalized surface itself, such as stability and biological efficacy,” said author Marcela Bilek.

“We concluded by suggesting that future research should address the trends towards 3D structures with interconnected porosity and take advantage of advances in biomolecule design and synthesis,” said author Masoud Zhianmanesh.

Source: “Plasma surface functionalization: A comprehensive review of advances in the quest for bioinstructive materials and interfaces,” by Masoud Zhianmanesh, Aaron Gilmour, Marcela M.M. Bilek, and Behnam Akhavan, Applied Physics Review (2023). The article can be accessed at http://doi.org/10.1063/5.0130829 .