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This contribution reviews cold plasma processes that are investigated and utilized in academic and technological fields related to Life Sciences, in particular for tailoring surface composition and morphology of materials of different utilization in Medicine and Biology for implants, prostheses, biosensors, devices and scaffolds for tissue engineering. The final goal of the research in this field is, in general, to achieve the capability of driving at will the behaviour (adhesion, growth, morphology, physiology, etc.) of cells and biological tissues in vitro and in vivo at the surface of modified materials. Recent advances on different plasma-processes for biomedical applications, developed in radiofrequency (RF, 13.56 MHz) Glow Discharges at the group of the authors are reported in this review, including: the synthesis of functional surfaces for direct cell growth and biomolecule immobilization; the deposition of non-fouling coatings; the deposition of nano-composite bacterial resistant coatings; the synthesis of nano-structured surfaces. In vitro biological tests for plasma-processed surfaces are also described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, the effect of oxygen-based plasma treatment on the three dimensional poly (ε-caprolactone) (PCL) was analyzed in terms of surface wettability, surface energy, and surface biocompatibility. The surface treatment was carried out for 1, 3, and 5-min durations on three dimensional PCL scaffolds at atmospheric pressure using a radio frequency (RF) plasma treatment system. The solid surface energies of the modified and unmodified PCL scaffolds were calculated by using the Owens-Wendt΄s method. To examine the effect of oxygen plasma treatment on cell-scaffold interaction, mouse osteoblast cell line (7F2) was used. Oxygen plasma treatment contributed in decreasing the hydrophobicity of PCL for the 1-min treatment. A change in the surface energy from 39.98 mN/m for untreated to 52.54 mN/m for 1-min treated was observed by the increment in the polar component of surface energy. However, with the extended treatment times (3-min, and 5-min), the hydrophilicity, and the surface energy remained unaffected. The highest mouse osteoblast cells proliferation rate was observed for the 1-min treated sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]