Relationship between blood compatibility and water structure—Comparative study between 2‐methoxyethylacrylate‐ and 2‐methoxyethylmethacrylate‐based random copolymers

We have proposed that the excellent blood compatibility of poly(2-methoxyethylacrylate (MEA)) is caused by freezing bound water contained in it on the basis of results on platelet activation (Tanaka and Mochizuki, J Biomed Mater Res A 2004; 68:684–695). To clarify the applicability of this mechanism to other indexes for blood compatibility, the relationship between complement activation and water structure was investigated by using two copolymers, poly(MEA-2-hydroxyethylmethacrylate (HEMA)) and poly(2-methoxyethylmethacrylate (MEMA)-HEMA), where HEMA content was varied from 25 to 90 mol %. ESCA analysis revealed that the surface compositions of these copolymers (dry state) agreed with the compositions determined by 1H NMR. However, analysis by water contact angle (wet state) showed that their surfaces were quite different. The contact angle of poly(MEMA-HEMA) depended on the monomer composition, whereas the angle of poly(MEA-HEMA) was close to that of polyHEMA regardless of the monomer composition. The effect of HEMA content in the copolymers on complement activation (production of C3a) was investigated in an in vitro test. The activation by poly(MEMA-HEMA) was enhanced according to the HEMA content, while the activation by poly(MEA-HEMA) with 0–40 mol % of HEMA was weak and did not depend on the HEMA content. These properties are discussed from the viewpoints of the water structure observed by DSC and the surface structure. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res, 2007.