Recent Advances in Antibacterial Coatings to Combat Orthopedic Implant-Associated Infections

Abstract

Implant-associated infections (IAIs) represent a major health burden due to the complex structural features of biofilms and their inherent tolerance to antimicrobial agents and the immune system. Thus, the viable options to eradicate biofilms embedded on medical implants are surgical operations and long-term and repeated antibiotic courses. Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in the development of robust and reliable strategies for prevention and treatment of IAIs. In particular, it seems promising to develop materials with anti-biofouling and antibacterial properties for combating IAIs on implants. In this contribution, we exclusively focus on recent advances in the development of modified and functionalized implant surfaces for inhibiting bacterial attachment and eventually biofilm formation on orthopedic implants. Further, we highlight recent progress in the development of antibacterial coatings (including self-assembled nanocoatings) for preventing biofilm formation on orthopedic implants. Among the recently introduced approaches for development of efficient and durable antibacterial coatings, we focus on the use of safe and biocompatible materials with excellent antibacterial activities for local delivery of combinatorial antimicrobial agents for preventing and treating IAIs and overcoming antimicrobial resistance.

Multimechanism Long-Term Antibacterial Coating with Simultaneous Antifouling, Contact-Active, and Release-Kill Properties

“…In summary, the PU-PDA-Ag-PDA-PHMG coating has excellent long-term antibacterial, antibiofilm properties, and biocompatibility, and the preparation process did not affect the mechanical properties of the material itself, which has the potential to be applied to clinical indwelling catheters and provides some references for the preparation of multimechanism antibacterial composite coatings. At the same time, based on the PDA adhesion, this multimechanism antibacterial composite coating can be applied to other substrates or other medical devices, such as vascular stents, medical masks, and medical implants. However, the PU-PDA-Ag-PDA-PHMG coating has a long preparation time, which would lead to a slower preparation if applied commercially.…”