Surface modification of bacterial cellulose by plasma treatments

Abstract

Plasma technique is a convenient method to introduce functional groups or chains onto the materials’ surface, including those with complex shapes; being conducted under vacuum, the treatment is pervasive, an advantage in the case of scaffolds with interpenetrating porous structures, often used for tissue engineering purposes [1]. Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a biocompatible material with unique properties that makes it an attractive material for biomedical applications. With the major goal of improving the biocompatibility of BC, and in line with previous research within our group [2], this work aimed at assessing the effect of plasma treatments on the in vitro interaction of BC with animal cell lines