Materials 2013, 6, 1632-1655; doi:10.3390/ma6051632 OPEN ACCESS materials ISSN 1996-1944 www.mdpi.com/journal/materials Article Adhesion and Growth of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells on Nanostructured and Biofunctionalized Polyethylene Katarina Novotna 1,†, Marketa Bacakova 1,†, Nikola Slepickova Kasalkova 2, Petr Slepicka 2, Vera Lisa 1, Vaclav Svorcik 2 and Lucie Bacakova 1,* 1 Department of Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering, Institute of Physiology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Videnska 1083, CZ-14220 Prague 4, Czech Republic; E-Mails:
[email protected] (K.N.);
[email protected] (M.B.);
[email protected] (V.L.) 2 Department of Solid State Engineering, Institute of Chemical Technology, Technicka 5, CZ-16628 Prague 6, Czech Republic; E-Mails:
[email protected] (N.S.K.);
[email protected] (P.S.);
[email protected] (V.S.) † These authors contributed equally to this work. * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail:
[email protected]; Tel.: +420-2-9644-3742; Fax: +420-2-9644-2844. Received: 8 January 2013; in revised form: 21 March 2013 / Accepted: 11 April 2013 / Published: 29 April 2013 Abstract: Cell colonization of synthetic polymers can be regulated by physical and chemical modifications of the polymer surface. High-density and low-density polyethylene (HDPE and LDPE) were therefore activated with Ar+ plasma and grafted with fibronectin (Fn) or bovine serum albumin (BSA). The water drop contact angle usually decreased on the plasma-treated samples, due to the formation of oxidized groups, and this decrease was inversely related to the plasma exposure time (50–300 s).