Femtosecond Laser Patterning of the Biopolymer Chitosan for Biofilm Formation.

Regina Estevam-Alves,Cleber Mendonca,Paulo Ferreira,Andrey Coatrini,Osvaldo Oliveira,Carla Fontana

doi:10.3390/ijms17081243

Abstract

Controlling microbial growth is crucial for many biomedical, pharmaceutical and food industry applications. In this paper, we used a femtosecond laser to microstructure the surface of chitosan, a biocompatible polymer that has been explored for applications ranging from antimicrobial action to drug delivery. The influence of energy density on the features produced on chitosan was investigated by optical and atomic force microscopies. An increase in the hydrophilic character of the chitosan surface was attained upon laser micromachining. Patterned chitosan films were used to observe Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923) biofilm formation, revealing an increase in the biofilm formation in the structured regions. Our results indicate that fs-laser micromachining is an attractive option to pattern biocompatible surfaces, and to investigate basic aspects of the relationship between surface topography and bacterial adhesion.

Highlights

Nano- and micro-patterned surfaces have attracted increasing attention in recent years among the scientific communities of physics, chemistry, medicine and biology [1,2,3,4]
We provide evidence that fs-laser micromachining is adequate to pattern biocompatible surfaces, with which one can investigate the dependence of surface topography on bacterial adhesion
This paper focused on the fs-laser microfabrication of a chitosan surface and its characterization, aiming at the production of engineered surface topographies to control bio-adhesion

Summary

Introduction

Nano- and micro-patterned surfaces have attracted increasing attention in recent years among the scientific communities of physics, chemistry, medicine and biology [1,2,3,4]. Surfaces have been modified by coating with nanostructured films or by changes in topography [14,15], in some cases with decreased bio-adhesion by tailored micropatterns [16], and in others to allow control of the cell growth direction [17]. We studied the influence of energy density on chitosan micromachining, the features of which were characterized by optical and atomic force microscopy.

Results

Conclusion