Improvement of Biocompatibility of Silicone Elastomer by Surface Modification

γ-Methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (γ-MPS) was grafted to silicone due to emulsion polymerization to induce Si-OH groups, in order to provide silicone with bioactivity spontaneous deposition of apatite in body fluid and to improve cytocompatibility. Apatite deposited on the grafted silicone within 7 days of soaking in 1.5 times as concentrated as the Kokubo solution. Osteoblastic cells (MC3T3-E1) were cultured on the specimens up to 7 days. After 5 days of culture, the number of MC3T3-E1 cells on the grafted specimen was much greater than that on the original specimen. These results indicated that the biocompatibility of silicone elastomer was improved by the grafting γ-MPS.