Br J Ophthalmol 1999;83:1168-1171
( October )
Cell and protein adhesion studies in glaucoma drainage device
development
The AGFID project team*
Correspondence to: Mr K Sheng Lim, Wound Healing Research Unit, Department of
Pathology, Institute of Ophthalmology, Bath Street, London EC1V 9EL.
Accepted for publication 25 June 1999
AIM
To examine in
vitro whether phosphorylcholine coating of poly(methylmethacrylate) can
reduce the adhesion of fibrinogen, fibrin, human scleral fibroblast and
macrophage compared with current biomaterials used in the construction
of glaucoma drainage devices.
METHODSSample discs
(n=6) of poly(methylmethacrylate), silicone, polypropylene, PTFE, and
phosphorylcholine coated poly(methylmethacrylate) were seeded with
fibrinogen, fibrin, fibroblast, and macrophages and incubated for
variable lengths of time. The quantification was performed using
radioactivity, spectrophotometry, ATP dependent luminometry, and
immunohistochemistry respectively.
RESULTSFibrinogen and
fibrin adhesion to phosphorylcholine coated poly(methylmethacrylate)
were significantly lower than PMMA (p=0.004). Phosphorylcholine coating
of poly(methylmethacrylate) also significantly reduced the adhesion of
human scleral fibroblast (p=0.002) and macrophage (p=0.01) compared
with PMMA. All the other biomaterials showed either similar or
insignificantly different levels of adhesion to all the proteins and
cells tested compared with PMMA.
CONCLUSIONPhosphorylcholine
coating is a new material technology that offers considerable promise
in the field of glaucoma drainage device development.
*
Members
of the team are listed at the end of the paper.
© 1999 by British Journal of Ophthalmology
