Repair of Retina Using Pigmented Epithelium
Initial investigations into the ability of various plasma polymer coatings (acrylic acid, allyl amine, allyl alcohol and octadiene) to support a RPE cell monolayer have been undertaken. Initially, the plasma polymers were deposited onto ePTFE and, whilst the octadiene and allyl alcohol coatings did not support cell culture of RPE cells the acrylic acid and allyl amine coatings showed more promising results, with healthy growth and proliferation of the cells. Both acrylic acid and allyl amine coatings show potential to form a monolayer of RPE cells with tight junctions and the typical "cobblestone" morphology. The next stage in this work requires an optimum surface chemistry to be defined, together with the ideal cell culture conditions to produce a monolayer of RPE cells with a "cobblestone" morphology. The porosity of the coating/substrate system needs to be assessed to retain the ion exchange function of the membrane being replaced. Once these stages are achieved, the coating/substrate system will be ready for animal trials.