Influence of surface features on the adhesion of Staphylococcus epidermidis to Ag-TiCN thin films

Staphylococcus epidermidis has emerged as one of the major nosocomial pathogens associated with infections of implanted medical devices. The initial adhesion of these organisms to the surface of biomaterials is assumed to be an important stage in their colonization. The main objective of this work i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science and technology of advanced materials 2013-06, Vol.14 (3), p.1-10
Main Authors: Carvalho, Isabel, Henriques, Mariana, Oliveira, João Carlos, Almeida Alves, Cristiana Filipa, Piedade, Ana Paula, Carvalho, Sandra
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
20.11
30.1
Adhesion
Atomic force microscopy
Bacteria
Biofilm
Biofilms
Biomaterial
Biomedical materials
Coatings
Crystal structure
Enumeration
Formations
Hydrophobicity
Magnetron sputtering
Microorganism adhesion
Morphology
Science & Technology
Silver
Sputtering
Staphylococcus epidermidis
Surface energy
Surface roughness
Surgical implants
Thin films
Titanium carbonitride
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Summary:Staphylococcus epidermidis has emerged as one of the major nosocomial pathogens associated with infections of implanted medical devices. The initial adhesion of these organisms to the surface of biomaterials is assumed to be an important stage in their colonization. The main objective of this work is to assess the influence of surface features on the adhesion of S. epidermidis to Ag-TiCN coatings deposited by dc reactive magnetron sputtering. The structural results obtained by x-ray diffraction show that the coatings crystallize in a B1-NaCl crystal structure typical of TiC 0.3 N 0.7 . The increase of Ag content promoted the formation of Ag crystalline phases. According to the results obtained with atomic force microscopy, a decrease on the surface roughness of the films from 39 to 7 nm is observed as the Ag content increases from 0 to 15 at.%. Surface energy results show that the increase of Ag promotes an increase in hydrophobicity. Bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation on coatings were assessed by the enumeration of the number of viable cells. The results showed that the surface with lower roughness and higher hydrophobicity leads to greater bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation, highlighting that surface morphology and hydrophobicity rule the colonization of materials.
ISSN:1468-6996
1878-5514
1468-6996
DOI:10.1088/1468-6996/14/3/035009