Universal Antifouling and Photothermal Antibacterial Surfaces Based on Multifunctional Metal–Phenolic Networks for Prevention of Biofilm Formation

Abstract

Biofilms formed from the pathogenic bacteria that attach to the surfaces of biomedical devices and implantable materials result in various persistent and chronic bacterial infections, posing serious threats to human health. Compared to the elimination of matured biofilms, prevention of the formation of biofilms is expected to be a more effective way for the treatment of biofilm-associated infections. Herein, we develop a facile method for endowing diverse substrates with long-term antibiofilm property by deposition of a hybrid film composed of tannic acid/Cu ion (TA/Cu) complex and poly­(ethylene glycol) (PEG). In this system, the TA/Cu complex acts as a multifunctional building block with three different roles: (i) as a versatile “glue” with universal adherent property for substrate modification, (ii) as a photothermal biocidal agent for bacterial elimination under irradiation of near-infrared (NIR) laser, and (iii) as a potent linker for immobilization of PEG with inherent antifouling property to inhibit adhesion and accumulation of bacteria. The resulted hybrid film shows negligible cytotoxicity and good histocompatibility and could prevent biofilm formation for at least 15 days in vitro and suppress bacterial infection in vivo, showing great potential for practical applications to solve the biofilm-associated problems of biomedical materials and devices.

Recent Advances in the Development and Antimicrobial Applications of Metal–Phenolic Networks

“…bacterial adhesion prevention ability, and good biocompatibility, which is effective in preventing biofilm formation and solving the associated infection problems in biomedical materials and devices (Figure 4d). [98]…”

“…D) Modification of TA/Cu-PEG composite coating. Reproduced with permission [98]. Copyright 2021, American Chemical Society.…”

Biopolymer coating for particle surface engineering and their biomedical applications

“…first proposed the synthesis of coordination complexes using natural polyphenol TA as an organic ligand and Fe (III) as the metallic crosslinking agent, which can be used to prepare film coating on a series of flat substrates and particles through one-step assembly [ 59 ]. Currently, many researches associated with the assembly of TA with iron or ferrous ions and their applications in the biomedical field have been explored, such as antibacterial coatings, clinical diagnosis, nanoprobe treatment, tooth desensitizers, separation and protection of living cells [ [60] , [61] , [62] , [63] , [64] ]. Guo et al.…”

“… Coatings Methods Applications Reference Chitosan Dip coating, physical adsorption, electrostatic interaction Drug and gene delivery, tissue engineering, wound healing, antibacterial [ [37] , [38] , [39] , [40] , [41] ] Cellulose Roller coating, dip coating, spray coating, spin coating and bar coating Drug delivery, tissue engineering, antibiotic delivery, bio-sensing, antibacterial [ [42] , [43] , [44] , [45] , [46] , [47] , [48] , [49] , [50] ] Polydopamine Polymerization biomedicine, surface engineering [ [51] , [52] , [53] , [54] , [55] ] Tannic acid Assembly Drug delivery, antibacterial, clinical diagnosis, nanoprobe treatment, tooth desensitizers, living cell protection. [ [56] , [57] , [58] , [59] , [60] , [61] , [62] , [63] , [64] ] Protein Dip coating, welding, self assembly protein fixation, biomedical enzyme catalysis, enzyme fixation, coenzyme regeneration, cell protection, medical diagnostic [ [65] , [66] , [67] , [68] , [69] , [70] ] …”

Recent progress in tannic acid-driven antibacterial/antifouling surface coating strategies

“…44,49 Various physical and chemical interactions, including hydrogen bonds, hydrophobic interactions, electrostatic interactions, Michael addition/Schiff base reactions, and polyphenol-metal coordination compounds, contribute to TA-driven surface coatings. 53 As a result, diverse TA-driven surface engineering approaches have been practiced in contemporary materials science research via exploiting antiadhesive films, 54,55 antimicrobial agents, 56 photoactive materials, [57][58][59] and cationic coatings. 60,61 Furthermore, these modified surfaces combat infectious bacterial colonization via releasing antibacterial agents, photothermal/photodynamic therapy, and contact-killing.…”