UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW

Question Submission Template 2021

This is the template to be used for submitting answers to every individual exam
question for all courses in the James Watt School of Engineering.

Please note that your exam solution can be in the form of images, scans of written text,
digital diagrams or as word processed.

Please add all images or scans, in sequence as pictures into the word document below.
NB: If you have multiple pictures, please add these on to their own separate page
ensuring that they are still within the template for each individual question.

It is very important that you use the attached separate templates for each question
attempted and then when finished export the file to PDF format. This means that you
will prepare separate PDF documents for each question that you attempt.

Each PDF should then be correctly uploaded to the corresponding section on the
Moodle exam submission page.

Failure to follow these instructions could result in a grade penalty for this exam.

Course Code
Type in the box below the course code for the exam material being submitted
(I.E ENGXXXX):

ENG5282

Question Number
Type in the box below the question number you are attempting:

Q3

Student ID Number
Type in the box below your student number:

2586619

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Insert answers to the question from this page onward.

Q3
a) We can use polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) as material for porous vascular grafts. PTFE
has critical surface tension of 19 dynes/cm, which is not too hydrophobic to cause blood
clots. PTFE also has good bioocompatibility, in addition to its tunable physical and
chemical properties (by surface modification). It also shows well-tolerated immune
response.
b) To modify the surface of the vascular grafts, we can choose plasma treatment method.
In plasma treatment:
1. First, we use high energy from plasma to break polymer covalent bond and create free
radical.

2. Then we can introduce/graft functional group onto the implants by exposing to

air/heating. Functional group such as carboxyls or hydroxyls group can be grafted to
increase hydrophillicty, lowering the risk of thrombus formation. Plasma treatment
should not affect other physical properties (bulk properties) of the vascular grafts

c) To validate the surface modification, we can use contact angle measurements. Contact
angle measurements involve liquid wetting of the surface to approximate the energy of the
surface (via hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity). This approximation uses the relationship
between the liquid contact angle and surface tension through Zisman method.

d) - Vascular graft is a blood-contacting device, so we can use blood compatibility assay,

such as coagulation protein assessment, where we use ELISA to detect and quantify
coagulation factors, which generally shows if the implants are thrombogenic or not. This
method produces quantitative results, which means more reliable data.
- We can also add cytotoxicity assessment, such as MTT assay. MTT looks at the live/dead
cells quantity by using MTT compound that can only be absorbed by live cells. These live
cells would change color into dark blue if they have absorbed MTT. MTT is a quantitative
assay resulting in a more reliable data.
- Dogs can be used for the in vivo test. Dogs shows similar endothelialization characteristics
to human, where the endothelialization does not occur spontaneously. Dogs are also
hyperthrombogenic, which is useful to for more riguorous/strict test for the vascular graft.

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