Abstract
Most bacteria live in multicellular communities known as biofilms that are adherent to surfaces in our environment, from sea beds to plumbing systems. Biofilms are often associated with clinical infections, nosocomial deaths and industrial damage such as bio-corrosion and clogging of pipes. As mature biofilms are extremely challenging to eradicate once formed, prevention is advantageous over treatment. However, conventional surface chemistry strategies are either generally transient, due to chemical masking, or toxic, as in the case of leaching marine antifouling paints. Inspired by the nonfouling skins of echinoderms and other marine organisms, which possess highly dynamic surface structures that mechanically frustrate bio-attachment, we have developed and tested a synthetic platform based on both uniaxial mechanical strain and buckling-induced elastomer microtopography. Bacterial biofilm attachment to the dynamic substrates was studied under an array of parameters, including strain amplitude and timescale (1–100 mm s−1), surface wrinkle length scale, bacterial species and cell geometry, and growth time. The optimal conditions for achieving up to ∼ 80% Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm reduction after 24 h growth and ∼ 60% reduction after 48 h were combinatorially elucidated to occur at 20% strain amplitude, a timescale of less than ∼ 5 min between strain cycles and a topography length scale corresponding to the cell dimension of ∼ 1 μm. Divergent effects on the attachment of P. aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli biofilms showed that the dynamic substrate also provides a new means of species-specific biofilm inhibition, or inversely, selection for a desired type of bacteria, without reliance on any toxic or transient surface chemical treatments.
Highlights
The second approach has focused on the use of surface chemical functional groups that inhibit protein adsorption as a means to inhibit bacterial adhesion [16, 17]
Bacterial cells are already known to respond to surface topography and mechanics, and their behavior can be manipulated using only spatial and mechanical cues [27,28,29]
Bacterial biofilm attachment to the dynamic substrates was studied under an array of parameters, including the mechanical strain amplitude and timescale, surface topography length scale, bacterial species and cell geometry, and growth time
Summary
While ship hulls constantly amass layers of algae and other microorganisms, materials with topographical features mimicking the skin of sharks have shown increased resistance to marine biofouling at certain length scales [23] In this case, the shark is in constant motion, and the skin’s structures are static. The skins of sedentary marine organisms known as echinoderms, e.g., star fish and sea urchins, are densely decorated with spiny, constantly moving microstructures known as pedicellaria that prevent larvae and microorganisms from attaching to the skin [24,25,26] Such mechanical frustration of dynamic, physical structures may provide a more persistent and nontoxic form of inhibitive interaction between bacteria and surfaces. Divergent effects on the attachment of P. aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli biofilm showed that the dynamic substrate enables an effective new means of speciesspecific biofilm inhibition—or selection for a desired type of bacteria—without reliance on any toxic or transient surface chemical treatments
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