HYDROGELS FROM POLYACRYLIC ACID FOR REDUCTION OF BIOADHESION ON SILICONE CONTACT LENSES
Contact lenses suffer from two limitations: low oxygen permeability and deposition of protein and lipids. In order to prevent bioadhesion, surface must be completely inert to all biological reactions. To achieve this, surface properties must be tailored. Also, to improve comfort, surface must be highly wettable and lubricous. In this paper the surface of silicone contact lenses was modified by plasma induced copolymerization of acrylic acid. A wettable surface was generated and in addition carboxyl groups that were created on the surface provided an ideal reactive platform for subsequent grafting of polyethylene glycol. Each surface modification step was analysed by XPS and contact angle measurements. Lysozyme adsorption on modified silicone contact lenses was analysed by surface-MALDI-ToF-MS and XPS. After incubation with lysozyme, surface-MALDI-TOF-MS and XPS analysis showed a reduction of adsorbed lysozyme on hydrogel modified contact lenses. Surface modification of silicone with PEG is a method for reduction of protein adsorption on contact lenses.