A Flexible Anti-Biofilm Hygiene Coating for Water Devices

Abstract

Biofilm is a microbiome complex comprising different bacterial colonies that typically adhere to device surfaces in water, which causes serious medical issues such as indwelling infections and outbreaks. Here, we developed a non-nanoparticle, flexible antibiofilm hygiene coating consisting of lithocholic acid (LCA), zinc pyrithione (Zn), and cinnamaldehyde (Cn) (named as LCA-Zn-Cn) that largely prevents the bacteria adhesion to various water device surfaces such as stainless steel and glass through a synergistic mechanism. The existing chelated groups on LCA and Cn attract plenty of bacteria via hydrophobic interaction. Both the bactericidal reaction by grafting biocidal groups from both LCA and Cn and the bacteriostatic reaction by inhibiting cell division via zinc ions (Zn) lead to a largely improved bacteria/biofilm prevention. The antibacterial performance was assessed by using the JIS Z 2801/ISO 22196 method. The designed LCA-Zn-Cn coating displayed log 10 reduction of 4.23 (99.9% reduction) of E. coli and log 10 reduction of 3.51 (99.8% reduction) of E. faecalis on stainless steel, which are much higher than the control samples, demonstrating a promising colonization inhibition. In parallel, the polysulfone encapsulated beads also showed >99% reduction efficiency in batch and >97−98% reduction efficiency in continuous column tests using the Lake Michigan water. Due to the strong cross-linked configuration, the coating still showed >90.9% bacterial reduction after 3000 abrasion cycles and over 99.9% bacteria reduction after a high flow velocity of 1.99 m/s test, which confirmed the enhanced mechanical durability. By applying either spray or dip-coating, the designed polymer composite can be coated on a variety of irregular water devices with mass production using an auto-controlled robot arm.

Physiological Concentrations of Calcium Interact with Alginate and Extracellular DNA in the Matrices of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilms to Impede Phagocytosis by Neutrophils

“…The implications of the findings reported here are significant in the study of prevention and control of biofilm disease. Strategies to combat biofilm growth include antibiofilm coatings to repel bacteria with bactericidal, topographical, chemical, or electrostatic interactions. − Indeed, one study revealed that modifying surfaces with immobilized DNA leads to reduced bacterial attachment, potentially due to electrostatic repulsion between the negative charges of DNA and bacterial cell surfaces . The clinical implementation of DNA-coated surfaces may necessarily rely on an understanding of ionic interactions at the biofilm–substrate interface.…”

Physiological concentrations of calcium interact with alginate and extracellular DNA in the matrices ofPseudomonas aeruginosabiofilms to impede phagocytosis by neutrophils

“…The implications of the findings reported here are significant in the study of prevention and control of biofilm disease. Strategies to combat biofilm growth include anti-biofilm coatings to repel bacteria with bactericidal, topographical, chemical, or electrostatic interactions [57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66]. Indeed, one study revealed that modifying surfaces with immobilized DNA leads to reduced bacterial attachment, potentially due to electrostatic repulsion between the negative charges of DNA and bacterial cell surfaces [67].…”

Investigation of ternary Zn–Co–Fe layered double hydroxide as a multifunctional 2D layered adsorbent for moxifloxacin and antifungal disinfection

“…On the other hand, studying the impact of nanomaterials on fungus is a less explored field of research 30 . Investigating the antifungal properties of multifunctional LDH materials is an important field of research that can result in numerous economic and environmental gains 31 , 32 . For instance, the main factor causing significant economic loss while handling fruits after harvest is the growth of fungi 33 .…”