Buildup of hyperbranched polymer/alginate multilayers and their influence on protein adsorption and platelet adhesion

A hyperbranched poly(methylene bisacrylamide–aminoethyl piperazine) (HPMA) and lactobionic acid modified hyperbranched poly(methylene bisacrylamide–aminoethyl piperazine) (LA–HPMA), namely, galactosylated HPMA, were assembled with alginate through the application of the layer‐by‐layer technique to fabricate polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) films. We monitored the assembly process to reveal the stepwise mass increase with a quartz crystal microbalance with the dissipation technique and by the reversal of the ζ potential. The thickness of PEMs assembled in solutions with different pHs was measured by spectroscopic ellipsometry; it showed a general decreasing tendency along with the pH increase. Postincubation in a buffer solution revealed that the multilayers possessed good stability with a thickness decrease from 5 to 15%. The PEMs showed a limited protein adsorption. Serum, bovine serum albumin, and fibrinogen were adsorbed onto the multilayers with a density within hundreds of nanograms per square centimeter to 1 μg/cm² and showed a relatively smaller adsorption on the multilayers assembled at pH 9. The PEMs assembled with LA–HPMA showed the lowest adhesion and activation of platelets, regardless of the outmost layer. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017 , 134, 44769.