Matrix assisted Pulsed Laser Evaporation for Layer-By-Layer processing of Thin Films containing Biological Materials

Matrix assisted pulsed laser evaporation has several advantages over dip coating, spin coating, and Langmuir-Blodgett coating for processing thin films that contain pharmaceutical agents and other biological materials. For example, matrix assisted pulsed laser evaporation allows for tight control of thin film thickness. Matrix assisted pulsed laser evaporation also allows for good control of thin film roughness. In addition, matrix assisted pulsed laser evaporation is a “cold” process that does not heat biological material. Matrix assisted pulsed laser evaporation has been used to deposit coatings of many types of biological materials; for example, it has been used to deposit thin films of the antiproliferative drug rapamycin on glass surfaces. Alamar Blue and Pico Green assays were used to evaluate the viability and proliferation rates of L929 fibroblast-like cells on the rapamycin coatings, respectively. The cells on the rapamycin thin films exhibited 70.6% viability (p= 0.0097) and 53.7% proliferation (p=0.0120) compared to cells on the control material (borosilicate glass), respectively [1]. This result indicates that the rapamycin thin films deposited by matrix assisted pulsed laser evaporation successfully reduced cell viability and proliferation. Matrix assisted pulsed laser evaporation offers many potential opportunities to impart biological functionality to the surfaces of medical devices and other medically-relevant structures.<br/><br/>[1] Cristescu R, Negut I, Visan AI, Nguyen AK, Sachan A, Goering PL, Chrisey DB, Narayan RJ. Matrix-Assisted Pulsed Laser Evaporation-deposited Rapamycin Thin Films Maintain Antiproliferative Activity. International Journal of Bioprinting. 2020;6(1). doi: 10.18063/ijb.v6i1.188