Perfluoropolyether-incorporated polyurethane with enhanced antibacterial and anti-adhesive activities for combating catheter-induced infection

• Published in: RSC advances 2024-01, Vol.14 (1), p.568-576
• Main Authors: Zhang, Yang, Song, Guangbin, Hu, Can, Liu, Zixu, Liu, Huansen, Wang, Yilei, Wang, Liang, Feng, Xuequan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adhesion; Catheters; Chemistry; Continuous flow; E coli; High resistance; Hydrophobicity; Mechanical properties; Perfluoro compounds; Polyurethane; Polyurethane resins; Protective coatings; Silver
• ISSN: 2046-2069; 2046-2069
• DOI: 10.1039/d3ra07831k

To avoid the undesired bacterial attachment on polyurethane-based biomedical devices, we designed a class of novel perfluoropolyether-incorporated polyurethanes (PFPU) containing different contents of perfluoropolyether (PFPE) segments. After blending with Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs), a series of bifunctional PFPU/AgNPs composites with bactericidal and anti-adhesion abilities were obtained and correspondingly made into PFPU/AgNPs films (PFPU/Ag-F) using a simple solvent-casting method. Due to its highest hydrophobicity and suitable mechanical properties, PFPU8/Ag-F containing 8 mol% of PFPE content was chosen as the optimized one for the next antibacterial assessment. The PFPU8/Ag-F can effectively deactivate over 99.9% of Staphylococcus aureus ( S. aureus ) and Escherichia coli ( E. coli ) cells at 10 6 CFU mL −1 within 30 min. Furthermore, the PFPU8/AgNPs composite was used as painting material to form a protective coating for the commercial polyurethane (PU) catheter. The as-prepared PFPU8/Ag coating exhibits high resistance to bacterial adhesion in a continuous-flow artificial urine model in an 8 day exposure. Therefore, it can be expected that the proposed PFPE-containing films and coatings can effectively prevent bacterial colonization and biofilm formation on catheters or other implants, thereby reducing the risk of postoperative catheter-induced infection. The as-synthesized PFPU polymers can facilely form films or coatings on the polyurethane substrate by simple solvent-casting or dip-coating method. The PFPU-modified surface can effectively prevent bacterial attachment over an 8 day exposure time.