Blood compatible, fog-, frost- and bacterial-resistant dopamine-enabled zwitterionic glass interfaces

Hydration is at the core of the mechanisms rationalizing the ability of hydrophilic interfaces to resist fogging, frosting and biofouling, and to be hemocompatible. Although essential, very few biomedical interfaces and devices possess this set of properties. This study sheds light on this combination of properties imparted to glass by a dopamine-enabled grafting of poly(sulfobetaine methacrylate) moieties. Water contact angle (WCA), fogging, frost resistance antifouling and blood compatibility tests were then conducted. The very low WCA measured on the glass surface (8.4°) permitted to inhibit condensation and maintain optical transparency, whereas other hydrophilic graftings prepared using hydroxyethylmethacyrlate (HEMA) or poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether acrylate (PEGMA) lost 15% of their optical transparency. The strong hydration layer provided by the zwitterionic grafting almost entirely inhibited frost formation. While the virgin glass suffered from severe biofouling by various types of cells found in the medical field including Pseudomonas aeruginosa and whole blood, the grafted glass materials resisted biofouling efficiently (90% and 99% decrease using bacteria and whole blood, respectively). Hemocompatibility was supported by negligible haemolyis activity, and activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT, 32.1 s) and prothrombin time (PT, 10.4 s) comparable to those measured with whole blood. Stability was also proven by carrying out antifouling tests after 1 month-immersion in an ultrasonic bath. Thus, these zwitterionic glass materials have potential for application in the biomedical field.