Hemocompatibility and anti-biofouling property improvement of poly(ethylene terephthalate) via self-polymerization of dopamine and covalent graft of zwitterionic cysteine

Inspired by the composition of adhesive proteins in mussels, we used self-polymerized dopamine to form a thin and surface-adherent polydopamine layer onto poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) sheet, followed by covalent grafting cysteine (Cys) to improve hemocompatibility and anti-biofouling property. The obtained surfaces were characterized by water contact angle measurements (WCA), attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. The results of platelet adhesion and protein adsorption tests showed that cysteine immobilized PET was endowed with improved resistance to nonspecific protein adsorption and platelet adhesion. The results of hemolysis rate test showed cysteine grafted PET (PET-g-Cys) had low hemolytic ability. Cell assay results showed that PET-g-Cys surface could greatly inhibit HeLa cell adhesion. These works provide an ideal hemocompatible and antifouling surface for biomedical applications.