Biofilm formation, bacterial adhesion and host response on polymeric implants—issues and prevention

Abstract

Several polymeric materials find application in biomedical implants and devices due to their superior physicochemical properties. The main requirement for these polymers is that they should be biocompatible, which means they prevent bacterial adhesion and are blood compatible. Many parameters contribute to the degree of biocompatibility. This paper discusses the mechanism of the formation of biofilms and lists the factors that influence the bacterial adhesion and haemocompatibility. Polymer surfaces are also modified to enhance adsorption of host cells. The physical, chemical and biological techniques are meant to modify the surface of the biomaterial but at the same time retain the key properties. The various polymer treatment processes have advantages and disadvantages and a few techniques have been proved to be both highly effective at treatment and found suitable for various in vivo environments. The current research focus pertaining to smart materials, biodegradable polymers, combinatorial chemistry, computational modelling and newer analytical techniques to understand polymer-cell interaction holds promise in designing better, cost effective and biocompatible polymers.

Antimicrobial cationic polymers: from structural design to functional control

“…[87][88][89] Such antimicrobial surfaces have great potentials for combating infections in the areas such as medical devices, clinical treatments and so forth. [90][91][92] For successful fabrication of antimicrobial surfaces, there are two convenient methods for introducing antimicrobial cationic polymers: one is the covalent modification and the other is the noncovalent self-assembly. In recent years, lots of research works have employed reversible chemistry into the surfaces in molecular level or modified their mesoscopic structures for improving their antimicrobial performances.…”

A Survey of Surface Modification Techniques for Next-Generation Shape Memory Polymer Stent Devices

“…In addition, instances of very late stage thrombosis (LST) have also been seen with DESs, making polymer stents a potentially more appealing route for stent materials [19]. Patients who receive DESs are often required to continue an anti-platelet regimen for 12 months to prevent adverse effects from the DESs and while these anticoagulants prevent thrombosis, they may carry a sustained risk of hemorrhage, or bleeding, and related side effects [12,20,21]. Due to safety concerns with existing stent materials, current research in stent design is progressing towards using biodegradable/bioabsorbable or biomimetic materials for polymer or metal stents as well as polymer coating-free DESs, among others [11,19,22,23].…”

“…Despite the variety of materials and designs currently available for stents, there is still a need for a single material that has the desired mechanical properties while simultaneously achieving optimal biocompatibility [1,21]. Biocompatibility refers to the reaction elicited by a material when it is inserted into the body; ideally, this reaction should be favorable and should not provoke a negative response such as an attack by the immune system on the foreign material [27][28][29][30].…”

Fotoinativação seletiva dos microorganismos: Escherichia coli e staphylococcus aureus

“…O tratamento por plasma é um método físico no qual a superfície do material é exposta à descarga luminescente sobre baixa pressão permitindo modificar o biomaterial sem alterar a composição e a estrutura do mesmo, com custo relativamente baixo [88]. Outra técnica importante é a implantação iônica que é caracterizada pela transferência de massa por meio do bombardeamento de um material com átomos ou moléculas ionizadas com energia suficiente para penetrar a camada mais profunda do material alvo.…”

“…Esses íons formam um feixe energético de uma determinada espécie química que é incidida à superfície do material alvo. Esta técnica tem como vantagem o melhoramento das propriedades como corrosão, atrito, fricção e desgaste, e no caso da adesão microbiana é interessante, pois geralmente é realizada a deposição da prata a qual já é conhecida por ter um efeito bactericida [88]. Segundo Matsumura e colaboradores, os íons Ag +1 são capazes de interagir com os grupos tióis de proteínas resultando na inativação de enzimas regulatórias do metabolismo microbiano [89].…”