Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 February 2011
Synthetic biomaterials are widely used for a variety of in vivo and in vitro biomedical applications. However, the performance, safety, and cost effectiveness of medical products are determined by desirable interactions between the physiological environments and biomaterial surfaces. Hence, development of surface modifications for biomaterials is strongly demanded by the biomedical industry. High energy techniques, such as glow discharge plasma, have been developed to impart specific chemical functionality to the biomaterial surfaces or to deposit new polymer films with desired properties. The use of plasma surface modification for biomedical applications is reviewed in this paper.