Wettability of plasma modified glass surface with bioglass layer in polysaccharide solution.

Wetting properties of glass surface covered with a bioglass layer in the hyaluronic acid (HA), alginate (AL) or mixed solution were determined from the contact angle measurements by the sessile drop method. Air plasma modification of plates to increase adhesion was performed in the low-temperature plasma system. Adhesion of bioglass in the polysaccharide solution on the original glass plates usually increases hydrophobic character of glass surface insignificantly in such a way that hydrocarbon chains are directed outwards and the polar part towards the glass surface. However, after the plasma action hydrophilic character of glass (and glass with biological layer) surface increases again. The changes of glass surface wettability are evidently dependent on the kind of used probe liquid and concentration of bioglass in the polysaccharide solution. Using an optical profilometer, the surface roughness of the plates was determined. An effective smoothing of the bioglass/polysaccharide surface was obtained on the plasma treated surface. The correlation between the hysteresis of water (and/or simulated body fluid) wetting angles and the topography of the surface was found for such mixed systems. However these results are somehow preliminary, it seems that cold plasma modification is an interesting tool for the development of the effect of bioglass adhesion and change of hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity character of glass materials in order to increase the spectrum of its pharmaceutical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]