Studies on Polymeric Surgical Fibers Wettabilities

Nowadays many polymeric materials are used to prepare suture fibers allowing the physician to choose the most suitable one for a specific surgical procedure. The surface properties of the fiber may predict the behavior of the repairing process, based on the interaction with biological liquids, extracellular matrix, and cells. In this paper the adhesion work of several suture fibers was evaluated as a measure that quantifies their ability to adsorb different extracellular liquids.We selected non-absorbable commercial polymeric suture fibers with different chemistries, i. e., polyamide and polypropylene that are usually used in soft tissue surgery. Distilled water, Ringer’s solution and glycerol were chosen as biological liquids that might mimic the interface with fibers. Also, supplementary experiments are performed regarding the temperature’s influence on the adsorption process. This comparative study proves the importance of contact angle measurement method in evaluating the wettability of suture fibers for a better selection in a specified surgery.Highlights–Evaluation of surgical fibers wettability can predict post-surgery processes at fiber-liquid interface.–Fibers chemistry and temperature of extracellular liquids are important parameters at interface.–An easier and rapid method based on contact angle measurement is proposed as an adhesion assessment of surgical fibers.