In vitro hemocompatibility testing of UV-modified hyaluronan hydrogels

Hydrogels (hylans) based on cross-linked hyaluronan (HA) are potentially good biomaterials for vascular tissue engineering applications because they are highly non-antigenic and -immunogenic. To facilitate surface endothelialization, vital to vascular deployment, we irradiated the gel surface with low wavelength UV light. This process micro-textures the smooth gel surface to provide sites for cell anchorage and causes limited scission of native long-chain HA yielding smaller fragments that elicit an enhanced cell response. In the current in vitro study, we assessed the effects of UV irradiation on the short-term (