CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

The hemocompatibility is a requirement in materials used in prosthesis which will be in contact with blood. There is no standard method to measure the degree of hemocompatibility. A material could be considered hemocompatible if does not activate the coagulation cascade process and does not produce damage to the components of the blood. The adsorption of plasma proteins is the initial stage in the interaction between blood and a material, which determines the adhesion and activation of the platelets. The activated platelets liberate substances which activate enzymatic factors of the coagulation and culminate with the formation of an insoluble polymer of fibrin, i. e., the coagulation of blood. For that reason, the adhesion of platelets and its activation are important events in the interaction bloodmaterial. In this work the conventional technique used for counting platelets on transparent surfaces (glass) was modified and to adapted for counting platelets deposited on titanium and stainless steel AISI 316 surfaces. Plasma containing platelets (PP) from anti-coagulated blood of healthy voluntaries was used. The metal samples were immersed in PP and incubated for 15, 30 and 60 minutes at 37 ºC in static conditions. Then, the samples were washed in a NaCl (0.9 %) solution in order to eliminate the platelets not adhered. The adhered platelet were fixed with absolute methanol and colored with Giemsa solution. The samples were observed in the optical microscope at 1000x. The number of platelets was counted. It was found that the adhesion of platelets diminishes with surface roughness and that platelet adhesion on titanium surfaces is lower than on stainless steel surfaces. This technique could be used to analyze the effect of different treatment made on metal surfaces on the interaction between platelets and metals.

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