Fabrication and characterisation of organic thin films for applications in tissue engineering

In several recent communications from these laboratories, we have described observations that thin organic layers which are rich in primary amine (C-NH 2 ) groups are very efficient surfaces for the adhesion of mammalian cells, even for controlling the differentiation of stem cells. We prepare such deposits by plasma polymerisation at low pressure (thin films designated "L-PPE:N", for "Low-pressure Plasma Polymerised Ethylene containing Nitrogen"), at atmospheric ("High") pressure ("H-PPE:N"), or by vacuum-ultraviolet photo-polymerisation ("UV-PE:N") 1 .