Department of Surgery, Juravinski Hospital, 711 Concession Street, Hamilton, ON L8V 1C3, Canada.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2021 Jun 23;13(24):27774-27783. doi: 10.1021/acsami.0c19355. Epub 2021 Jun 11.
Medical device-associated infections are an ongoing problem. Once an implant is infected, bacteria create a complex community on the surface known as a biofilm, protecting the bacterial cells against antibiotics and the immune system. To prevent biofilm formation, several coatings have been engineered to hinder bacterial adhesion or viability. In recent years, liquid-infused surfaces (LISs) have been shown to be effective in repelling bacteria due to the presence of a tethered liquid interface. However, local lubricant loss or temporary local displacement can lead to bacteria penetrating the lubrication layer, which can then attach to the surface, proliferate, and form a biofilm. Biofilm formation on biomedical devices can subsequently disrupt the chemistry tethering the slippery liquid interface, causing the LIS coating to fail completely. To address this concern, we developed a "fail-proof" multifunctional coating through the combination of a LIS with tethered antibiotics. The coatings were tested on a medical-grade stainless steel using contact angle, sliding angle, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The results confirm the presence of antibiotics while maintaining a stable and slippery liquid interface. The antibiotic liquid-infused surface significantly reduced biofilm formation (97% reduction compared to the control) and was tested against two strains of , including a methicillin-resistant strain. We also demonstrated that antibiotics remain active and reduce bacteria proliferation after subsequent coating modifications. This multifunctional approach can be applied to other biomaterials and provide not only a fail-safe but a fail-proof strategy for preventing bacteria-associated infections.
医疗器械相关感染是一个持续存在的问题。一旦植入物感染，细菌就在表面形成一个被称为生物膜的复杂群落，从而保护细菌细胞免受抗生素和免疫系统的攻击。为了防止生物膜的形成，已经设计了几种涂层来阻碍细菌的黏附或存活。近年来，由于存在束缚的液体界面，液体注入表面（LIS）已被证明在排斥细菌方面非常有效。然而，局部润滑剂的损失或暂时的局部位移可能导致细菌穿透润滑层，然后附着在表面上，增殖并形成生物膜。随后，生物膜在生物医学设备上的形成会破坏束缚滑润液体界面的化学物质，导致 LIS 涂层完全失效。为了解决这个问题，我们通过将 LIS 与束缚抗生素结合，开发了一种“万无一失”的多功能涂层。该涂层在医用级不锈钢上进行了接触角、滑动角和傅里叶变换红外光谱测试。结果证实了抗生素的存在，同时保持了稳定的滑润液体界面。抗生素液体注入表面显著减少了生物膜的形成（与对照相比减少了 97%），并针对两种 菌株进行了测试，包括耐甲氧西林菌株。我们还证明，抗生素在随后的涂层改性后仍然保持活性并减少细菌增殖。这种多功能方法可以应用于其他生物材料，并为预防细菌相关感染提供不仅是万无一失而且是万无一失的策略。
