Department of Mechanical Engineering, Colorado State University, Campus Delivery 1374, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Ohio State University, Dorothy Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
Colloids Surf B Biointerfaces. 2018 Jun 1;166:179-186. doi: 10.1016/j.colsurfb.2018.03.019. Epub 2018 Mar 17.
Bacterial infections are a serious issue for many implanted medical devices. Infections occur when bacteria colonize the surface of an implant and form a biofilm, a barrier which protects the bacterial colony from antibiotic treatments. Further, the anti-bacterial treatments must also be tailored to the specific bacteria that is causing the infection. The inherent protection of bacteria in the biofilm, differences in bacteria species (gram-positive vs. gram-negative), and the rise of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria makes device-acquired infections difficult to treat. Recent research has focused on reducing biofilm formation on medical devices by modifying implant surfaces. Proposed methods have included antibacterial surface coatings, release of antibacterial drugs from surfaces, and materials which promote the adhesion of non-pathogenic bacteria. However, no approach has proven successful in repelling both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. In this study, we have evaluated the ability of superhydrophobic surfaces to reduce bacteria adhesion regardless of whether the bacteria are gram-positive or gram-negative. Although superhydrophobic surfaces did not repel bacteria completely, they had minimal bacteria attached after 24 h and more importantly no biofilm formation was observed.
细菌感染是许多植入式医疗设备面临的一个严重问题。当细菌在植入物表面定殖并形成生物膜时，就会发生感染，生物膜是一种保护细菌菌落免受抗生素治疗的屏障。此外，抗菌治疗还必须针对引起感染的特定细菌。生物膜中细菌的固有保护、细菌种类的差异（革兰氏阳性菌与革兰氏阴性菌）以及抗生素耐药菌株的出现，使得器械相关感染难以治疗。最近的研究集中在通过修饰植入物表面来减少生物膜在医疗器械上的形成。提出的方法包括抗菌表面涂层、从表面释放抗菌药物以及促进非致病性细菌黏附的材料。然而，没有一种方法被证明能够成功击退革兰氏阳性菌和革兰氏阴性菌。在这项研究中，我们评估了超疏水表面减少细菌黏附的能力，而不管细菌是革兰氏阳性菌还是革兰氏阴性菌。尽管超疏水表面并不能完全排斥细菌，但在 24 小时后，它们附着的细菌很少，更重要的是，没有观察到生物膜的形成。
