Abstract
Textiles are frequently colonized by microorganisms leading to undesired consequences like hygienic problems. Biocidal coatings often raise environmental and health concerns, thus sustainable, biocide-free coatings are of interest. To develop novel anti-adhesive textile coatings, a rapid, reliable, and quantitative high-throughput method to study microbial attachment to fabrics is required, however currently not available. Here, a fast and reliable 96-well plate-based screening method is developed. The quantification of bacterial adhesion is based on nucleic acid staining by SYTO9, with Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus as the model microorganisms. Subsequently, 38 commercially available and novel coatings were evaluated for their anti-bacterial adhesion properties. A poly(l-lysine)-g-poly(ethylene glycol) coating on polyester textile substratum revealed an 80% reduction of bacterial adhesion. Both the coating itself and the anti-adhesive property were stable after 20 washing cycles, confirmed by X-ray analysis. The assay provides an efficient tool to rapidly screen for non-biocidal coatings reducing bacterial attachment.
Highlights
Bacterial attachment to textiles often causes permanent changes of the fabric: decrease in tensile strength and elasticity, changes in appearance, as well as unpleasant odors [1]
Inclusion of uncoated textiles as well as background controls without bacteria in the same microplate facilitated direct comparison of samples. This method allowed the assessment of the coating stability in anti-adhesive activity after washing. These results demonstrate that the method is suitable for rapid high-throughput quantification of attached bacteria to various substrata, is ideal for screening of novel as well as commercially available biopassive textile coatings
A small drop of acetone (~10 μL) was added to each well of the polystyrene microplate to gently dissolve the bottom for fixation of fabric pieces
Summary
Bacterial attachment to textiles often causes permanent changes of the fabric: decrease in tensile strength and elasticity, changes in appearance, as well as unpleasant odors [1]. Infestation of fibers by pathogenic bacteria can cause health problems such as asthma, allergic sensitization, or eczema [2]. Textiles should be protected to resist bacterial attachment. The most widespread approach to protect textiles from bacteria is based on the application of antimicrobial agents in textile finishing [3,4]. The use of biocides raises environmental and health concerns. Leaching ones, applied for textile functionalization are accompanied with eco-toxicity, skin irritation problems, and changes to the skin flora [5,6]. There is a huge demand for biocide-free coatings [5]
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