Antifouling and antimicrobial biomaterials: an overview

Abstract

The use of implantable medical devices is a common and indispensable part of medical care for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. However, as side effect, the implant of medical devices quite often leads to the occurrence of difficult‐to‐treat infections, as a consequence of the colonization of their abiotic surfaces by biofilm‐growing microorganisms increasingly resistant to antimicrobial therapies. A promising strategy to combat device‐related infections is based on anti‐infective biomaterials that either repel microbes, so they cannot attach to the device surfaces, or kill them in the surrounding areas. In general, such biomaterials are characterized by antifouling coatings, exhibiting low adhesion or even repellent properties towards microorganisms, or antimicrobial coatings, able to kill microbes approaching the surface. In this light, the present overview will address the development in the last two decades of antifouling and antimicrobial biomaterials designed to potentially limit the initial stages of microbial adhesion, as well as the microbial growth and biofilm formation on medical device surfaces.

Self‐Assembled Monolayers of Silver Nanoparticles: From Intrinsic to Switchable Inorganic Antibacterial Surfaces

“…At this stage, surgical removal of the biofilm‐infected device (or prosthesis) is the only possible solution . A plethora of surfaces modified with antibacterial agents have been proposed to avoid bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation , . The use of an inorganic antibacterial agent such as Ag + and, even more frequently, silver nanoparticles (AgNP), is extremely popular in antimicrobial materials, also thanks to the low resistance towards silver expressed by most bacterial strains, escaping the increasing problem of bacterial antibiotic resistance .…”

“…Biofilms form after adhesion of planktonic bacteria to a bacterial agents have been proposed to avoid bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation. [26,27] The use of an inorganic antibacterial agent such as Ag + and, even more frequently, silver nanoparticles (AgNP), is extremely popular in antimicrobial materials, also thanks to the low resistance towards silver expressed by most bacterial strains, [28] escaping the increasing problem of bacterial antibiotic resistance. [29] Literature shows countless examples of impregnated materials, hybrid materials and composite materials based on silver cations or on AgNP, that have been extensively reviewed.…”

Synthesis, Characterization, and Bacterial Fouling-Resistance Properties of Polyethylene Glycol-Grafted Polyurethane Elastomers

“…Traditionally, antimicrobial or antifouling polyurethanes were obtained by the adsorption/conjugation of drugs or antiseptics [9][10][11][12][13]. More recently, research efforts have been focused on either the use of natural compounds with anti-biofilm properties [14][15][16][17], or on the development of intrinsically antimicrobial and antifouling materials, by either physical or chemical technological approaches [17][18][19][20]. Physical approaches mainly consist of developing micro-or nano-scale surface texturing in order to affect bacterial adhesiveness, growth, and more in general, biofilm formation [21][22][23][24].…”

Urinary Catheter Coating Modifications: The Race against Catheter-Associated Infections

“…Despite the variety of materials, urinary pathogens are still able to colonize the catheter and cause infections. To prevent microbial colonization and biofilm formation, urinary catheter materials have been modified by adding anti-fouling or bactericidal coatings [32]. An ideal coating agent should possess high anti-biofilm/antimicrobial efficacy and be easily and economically conjugated to the catheter surface [33].…”