One step preparation of plasma based polymer films for drug release

Among various atmospheric pressure plasma deposition techniques, the so-called “Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Dielectric Barrier Discharges” (APDBD) has recently received a lot of attention due to the easy ignition of a stable discharge and its scalability. In the present work we aim at designing plasma polymer based films for biomedical applications, in which the drug to be released will be directly incorporated in the film during its deposition. Plasma polymer films made of methacrylic acid (MAA) and of ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) were prepared, allowing to obtain smart coatings able to release the molecule of interest, acetaminophen. A combination of different analytic tools shows that the functional groups of the film are well preserved with respect to the monomer structure and that the drug initially put in the gas phase is embedded in the plasma film with its structure being preserved. The physical and chemical characteristics of the elaborated film allowed for the progressive release of acetaminophen by simply dipping the film into a deionized water solution. However only 8% of the acetaminophen present in the monomer mixture could be released slowly in the presence of water. The significance of this result will be discussed.