Abstract
The effect of chemical composition and higher order structure of heparinized hydrophilic graft copolymers on their properties has been studied. Chemical composition of graft copolymer was represented by the degree of graft ((weight of grafted polymer/weight of trunk polymer)×100 (%)). Both heparin content and heparin elution rate of heparinized graft copolymers increased with increasing degree of graft. Adhesion and deformation of the platelets on the surface of the heparinized graft copolymers with the degree of graft above 40 % was remarkably suppressed. But, adsorption of plasma protein to the graft copolymers with the degree of graft shove 90% had a tendency to increase. Therefore, the optimum range of the degree of graft was considered to be 40-80%. Excellent mechanical properties and controlled elution rate of heparin of these heparinized hydrophilic graft copolymers were correlated with higher order structure of graft copolymers.
