Effect of metabolites on protein adsorption to PEO films

Abstract

Protein adsorption is a serious issue that affects a wide range of biomaterial applications. Hydrophilic polymer coatings, such as zwitterion polymers and polyethylene oxide (PEO), can inhibit protein adsorption at the material-blood interface. In addition, PEO is widely viewed as a golden standard, though the mechanism is not fully defined. Hemodialysis is traditional solution to treat patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD); however, metabolites with protein-bound property are difficult to be removed by this method. Besides, effect of small molecules on polymer remains ignored and unexplored. We applied quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) to monitor the surface modified by PEO when introducing small molecules into the system. Ellipsometer, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), water contact angle and liquid chromatography mass-spectrometry (LC-MS) are also used to explore the potential of PEO to store the small metabolites. The results of QCM-D work showed HSA adsorption on HO-PEO film was affected by small molecules. The introduction of IS may modify the PEO film to decrease albumin adsorption. MS work showed the PEO film adsorbs these. This may indicate that the PEO film adsorbs a large variety of metabolites, which may have a direct impact on how proteins adsorb.