Mesoporus Diamondlike Carbon Medical Device Membrane

Univ Of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill NC

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Abstract

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Current implantable biosensor materials demonstrate poor "sensocompatibility"; biofouling and tissue encapsulation create permeability barriers that decrease analyte flux between the sensor and the surrounding tissues. An ideal biosensor membrane material must reduce protein adsorption and promote integration of the sensor with the surrounding tissue. Furthermore, these surfaces must be sufficiently thin and porous in order to allow the sensor to rapidly respond to fluctuations in analyte concentration. We propose the development of a multifunctional nanostructured material for use as an implantable biosensor membrane. Specifically, we propose coating a nanoporous alumina membrane with thin films of silicon nitride, diamondlike carbon, and dexamethasone using chemical vapor deposition, pulsed laser deposition, and matrix assisted pulsed laser evaporation processes, respectively. These nanostructured membranes will be fabricated to provide well-controlled 5-7 nm pore sizes, antifouling surfaces, and anti-inflammatory drug delivery properties. A research plan is proposed that contains three overlapping phases. Phase I will involve processing and structural characterization of multilayer dexamethasone/diamondlike carbon-platinum/silicon nitride/alumina nanoporous membranes in order to develop structure-property correlations for these novel multilayered nanostructures. Phase II will involve functional characterization of the complete multilayer nanoporous membrane. In vitro biofouling studies will be performed to better understand the biosensor/tissue interface. Phase III will assess the in vitro performance of a glucose sensor containing the multilayer nanoporous membrane. This multilayer semipermable mesoporous membrane design could also find use in immunoisolation devices, kidney dialysis membranes, microdialysis systems, and other devices that face sensocompatibility issues. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]