Journal of Biotechnology & Biomaterials
Open Access

Editorial

Novel Approaches to avoid Microbial Adhesion onto Biomaterials

IBB – Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal

Corresponding Author:

Lígia R. Rodrigues
Department of Biological Engineering
University of Minho Campus, Portugal
E-mail: lrmr@deb.uminho.pt

Received date: July 16, 2011; Accepted date: July 16, 2011; Published date: July 18, 2011

Citation: Rodrigues LR (2011) Novel Approaches to avoid Microbial Adhesion onto Biomaterials. J Biotechnol Biomaterial 1:104e. doi:10.4172/2155-952X.1000104e

Copyright: © 2011 Rodrigues LR. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Infections resulting from microbial adhesion to biomaterial surfaces have been observed on nearly all medical devices with severe economic and medical consequences [1]. Biofilm infections, mainly due to their antimicrobial resistance, pose a number of clinical challenges, including disease, chronic inflammation, and rapidly acquired antibiotic resistance. Independently of the superiority of the implant, virtually all medical devices are prone to microbial colonization and infection. Examples of such devices include prosthetic heart valves, orthopaedic implants, intravascular catheters, artificial hearts, left ventricular assist devices, cardiac pacemakers, vascular prostheses, cerebrospinal fluid shunts, urinary catheters, voice prostheses, ocular prostheses and contact lenses, and intrauterine contraceptive devices. A large amount of research to eliminate or reduce infections by developing anti-infective and anti-adhesive devices has been encouraged as a result of the significant resistance of biofilms to conventional antibiotic therapies. These improved devices may be produced by either mechanical design alternatives; physicochemical modification of the biomaterial surface (e.g. biosurfactants, plasma, atom transfer radical polymerization, brushes); anti-infective agents bound to the surface of the material (e.g. biosurfactants, silver, quaternary ammonium compounds, synthetic antibiotics); or release of toxic agents into the adjacent surroundings (e.g. chlorhexidine, antibiotics) [2,3]. The success of the mechanical design alternatives has been residual and with limited applicability [2]. Furthermore, the effectiveness of coatings designed to reduce adhesion by modification of the surface properties has also been reduced and greatly dependent on the bacterial species. Surfaces modified with poly(ethylene glycol) [4], poly(ethylene oxide) brushes [5], and hydrophilic polyurethanes [6], among many others, have been reported. Additionally, surface-bounded anti-infective agents are only toxic to the initial wave of incoming bacteria and provide little residual effects once layers of dead cells accumulate, which are also inflammatory.