Reduced Crystalline Biofilm Formation on Superhydrophobic Silicone Urinary Catheter Materials

Abstract

Crystalline biofilm formation in indwelling urinary catheters is a serious health problem as it creates a barrier for antibacterial coatings. This emphasizes the failure of antibacterial coatings that do not have a mechanism to reduce crystal deposition on catheter surfaces. In this study, trifluoropropyl spray-coated polydimethylsiloxane (TFP–PDMS) has been employed as an antibiofilm forming surface without any antibacterial agent. Here, TFP was coated on half-cured PDMS using the spray coating technique to obtain a durable superhydrophobic coating for a minimum five cycles of different sterilization methods. The crystalline biofilm-forming ability of Proteus mirabilis in artificial urine, under static and flow conditions, was assessed on a TFP-PDMS surface. In comparison to the commercially available silver-coated latex and silicone catheter surfaces, TFP–PDMS displayed reduced bacterial attachment over 14 days. Moreover, the elemental analysis determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray analysis revealed that the enhanced antibiofilm forming ability of TFP-PDMS was due to the self-cleaning activity of the surface. We believe that this modified surface will significantly reduce biofilm formation in indwelling urinary catheters and further warrant future clinical studies.

Superhydrophobic Biological Fluid‐Repellent Surfaces: Mechanisms and Applications

“…Trifluoropropyl spray‐coated polydimethylsiloxane was employed as a superhydrophobic urine antibacterial surface by Gayani and his partner. [ 148 ] Cycled for 14 days under flowing conditions, the superhydrophobic trifluoropropyl‐PDMS urinary catheters exhibited less biofilm than commercially available silicone catheters.…”

Silicone Foley catheters impregnated with microbial indole derivatives inhibit crystalline biofilm formation by Proteus mirabilis

“…Cytotoxicity was determined by MTT assay and represented as the percentage of remaining viable cells after treatment. impregnation with compounds that resist the formation of crystalline biofilm became the focus of recent studies to reduce the incidence of CAUTI (Liu et al, 2019;Gayani et al, 2021;Koc et al, 2021). Many studies suggested the utilization of antimicrobials for coating the catheters to inhibit the growth of bacteria on the surface.…”

“…Scientists have been searching for new methods for the implementation of biofilm-free catheters. These methods include modifying catheter materials (Pathak et al, 2018;Gayani et al, 2021); coating and impregnating catheters with antimicrobial (Monteiro et al, 2019;Yassin et al, 2019) and antibiofilm compounds (Liu et al, 2019;Swidan et al, 2022). Antivirulence and antibiofilm compounds are attracting more interest recently because they affect bacterial virulence without creating selection pressure and thus reducing the development of antibiotic resistance.…”

Can Superhydrophobic PET Surfaces Prevent Bacterial Adhesion?

“…The most commonly used low surface energy molecules to form superhydrophobic surfaces include fluorocarbon chains such as trifluoropropyl [ 11 ], polytetrafluoroethylene [ 12 ], and 1H, 1H, 2H, 2H-perfluorodecanethiol [ 13 ]. In a study by John et al [ 14 ], nanoimprint lithography with a low surface energy molecule, 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecyl acrylate was utilised to form superhydrophobic surfaces which performed to confer the surface anti-biofouling properties against E. coli .…”