At TIPS journal club meeting held on February 25, 2019, the topic of “Polymer brush coating decorated with antibiotics for prevention of catheter associated-infections” was presented by M. Hassani. A brief summary of this presentation is in below.
One of the main causes of Biomedical implant failure is implant-related infection in which the number of patients requiring biomaterials implant surgery is steadily increasing. Treatment of this kind of infected implants includes antibiotic therapy, while the implant removal will be a final decision. In this regards, several strategies have been followed in order to develop anti-adhesive and bactericidal coatings, such as polymer brush coatings, antimicrobial nanostructures and antimicrobial peptides to prevent bacterial adhesion and subsequent infection. The brush coating forms a highly hydrated layer of chains that is compressed upon bacterial approach, leading to a repulsive osmotic force and to a reduced mobility of the polymer chains. This creates a steric barrier which discourages close contact and suppresses bacterial adhesion. In this research, the fate of bacteria that adhere on a polymer brush-coating and determining whether they are able to grow into a biofilm and if so what the effect of brush coatings on viability and adhesion strength of the biofilm will be evaluated.