Thrombin immobilization to methacrylic acid grafted poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) and its in vitro application.

Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) is nontoxic and biodegradable, with good biocompatibility and potential support for long-term implants. For this reason, it is a good support for enzyme immobilization. Enzyme immobilization could not be done directly because poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) has no functional groups. Therefore, modification should be done for enzyme immobilization. In this study, methacrylic acid was graft polymerized to poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) and thrombin was immobilized to polymethacrylic acid grafted poly(3-hydroxybutyrate). In fact, graft polymerization of methacrylic acid to poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) and thrombin immobilization was a model study. Biomolecule immobilized poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) could be used as an implant. Thrombin was selected as a biomolecule for this model study and it was immobilized to methacrylic acid grafted poly(3-hydroxybutyrate). Then the developed product was used to stop bleeding.