Studies of biocompatibility of chemically etched CR-39 SSNTDs in view of their applications in alpha-particle radiobiological experiments

Alpha-particle radiobiological experiments involve irradiating cells with alpha particles and require thin biocompatible materials which can record alpha-particle traversals as substrates for cell cultures. The biocompatibilities of chemically etched CR-39 solid-state nuclear track detectors (SSNTDs) using aqueous NaOH or NaOH/ehtanol are studied through the abundance and morphology of the cultured HeLa cells. The wetting properties of these etched CR-39 SSNTDs are also studied. The moderately hydrophobic CR-39 SSNTDs as well as the hydrophobic NaOH/ethanol-etched CR-39 SSNTDs are more biocompatible than the hydrophilic aqueous-NaOH-etched SSNTDs. Too small water contact angles, too large surface energy (γ_s) or the polar component fenced(γ_s ^p) do not favor the cell culture. On the other hand, the dispersive component fenced(γ_s ^d) of the surface energy and the ratio γ_s ^p / γ_s ^d do not seem to significantly affect the biocompatibility. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.