Effect of oxygen-radio frequency plasma treatment on three dimensional poly(ε-caprolactone) scaffolds

In the present study, the effect of oxygen-based plasma treatment on the three dimensional poly (epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL) was analyzed in terms of surface wettability, surface energy, and surface biocompatibility. The surface treatment was carried out for 1, 3, and 5 minutes durations on three dimensional PCL scaffolds at atmospheric pressure using a radio frequency (RF) plasma treatment system. The solid surface energies of the modified and unmodified PCL scaffolds were calculated by using the Owens-Wendt's method. To examine the effect of oxygen plasma treatment on cell-scaffold interaction, mouse osteoblast cell line (7F2) was used. Oxygen plasma treatment contributed in decreasing the hydrophobicity of PCL for the 1-min treatment. A change in the surface energy from 39.98 mN/m for untreated to 52.54 mN/m for 1-min treated was observed by the increment in the polar component of surface energy. However, with the extended treatment times (3-min, and 5 min), the hydrophilicity, and the surface energy remained unaffected. The highest mouse osteoblast cells proliferation rate was observed for the 1-minute treated sample.